Snow That Can Melt
by ScarletteV
Summary: On one rainy day, Tsukishima Kei is reminded on why he should always bring an umbrella - he also learned how the snowball effect can be fatal once left on it's own. Who knew sharing an umbrella for a day can cause somethings so troublesome for a lifetime? [First Story] TsukkiXOC ; TsukishimaXOC ; TsukiXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Okay, so the first chapters will be kind of fast-paced? This was supposed to be a one-shot but I gradually kept making continuations for this one-shot that a friend convinced me to just continue it. I might re-write this but not yet. Anyway, this is my first series so please, please bear with me. Thank you and enjoy! Reviews are welcome.** **DISCLAIMER FOR THIS CHAPTER AND ALL THAT WILL COME: I, in no way, own Haikyu! or connected to them; it is rightly owned by Haruichi Furudate, published by Shueisha. If I do own something in this story, then it is my OC, Yukio Murikami and her family. That is all.**

* * *

Today wasn't really Tsukishima Kei's day… Not at all. Officially, volleyball practice has ended and, well, his teammate, as usual, stayed over time to practice more. It never ceases to amaze and disgust Kei how utterly dedicated they are to the sport – they were just a club after all.

That's what they were – a club. Which is why he refused to stay at the gym and practice more than it was necessary to; plus, he already got hit on the face when a certain annoying red head miscalculated a spike.

As the memory resurfaced Kei subconsciously touched his left cheek, still feeling the sting albeit not as worse as before. A small huff left his lips before dropping his arm back to his side and continuing to walk towards the school building in order to retrieve the stuff in his locker. As he was about to enter the building, his golden-brown orbs caught sight of what the sky looked like and only then did he noticed how dark the shade of the sky was.

'Better hurry,' He thought, entering the building with steps more urgent than earlier. The blond easily found his locker, stood before it, shrug his gym bag off his shoulder before taking what he needed. Just as he shut his locker door there was a brief flash of light and the sound of thunder followed.

"Shit." He muttered underneath his breath, turning to face the school's entrance only to see rain pouring. Of all days to idiotically leave his umbrella, it just had to be today when it actually rained; Tsukishima Kei can now officially confirm that it was a bad day – not that the ball hitting his face didn't suffice. Yamaguchi already went home earlier than him, saying he promised his mother errands; and seeing that Yamaguchi was his only friend, or the only one who he truly recognizes as a friend, there was no other people he can ask to share an umbrella with. There was also no way he was going to return to the gym to wait for the rain to halt or wait for practice to end in order to share an umbrella with someone – no, too much of his pride would be at stake there. His only choice was to… wait.

Deep in thought, Kei didn't notice that his facial expression was crunched into an expression that was a mix of anger and annoyance, a scowl that screamed ' I am so done with today's crap'. Another thing that was unknown to him was that there were light blue eyes that started watching him a few moments ago. The owner of the eyes diverted their attention back to their locker, grabbing the purple umbrella tucked safely inside her locker for moments just as this one. She then approached the guy – once she was standing by his side, she suddenly felt reluctant; sure she knew the guy was tall, but standing beside him was a totally different story. His height was intimidating… as so was the scowl on his face now that she could see his face – it was apparently a classmate of hers, Tsukishima Kei. Based on what she observed, Kei was silent but once he got talking, his tongue was sharp and was sarcastic to boot.

Just when she was about to rethink sharing her umbrella with him (What? she's easily intimidated – the guy looked like he was about to punch someone – anyone)Kei glanced sideways, feeling a presence, and their gaze locked. Kei's scowl disappeared only to be replaced with a guarded one. A few more seconds of staring at one another and the blond's rose an eyebrow, inquiring… or demanding, rather, the reason why she was staring at him. While waiting for her answer, Kei took the time to assess her.

She looked familiar, he thought. Her light blue eyes contrasted her dark blue hair that had uneven ends barely reached her shoulders. She was shorter – well, mostly everyone was shorter that him, but with her height, it seemed that he was a whole foot taller than her with him standing a 6'3″ last time he had checked.

"Uhm… Would you like to share the umbrella with me?" Her soft voice broke his thoughts and only then did he notice the purple umbrella she was clutching on nervously.

Should he accept her offer though? He barely knew the girl standing before him after all. However, given his other set of option, Kei knew that tagging along with her was the best and probably the most fastest way to get out of school and into the comfort of his own home. His brows furrowed intensely in thought, still unable to decide.

Kei sighed, glancing at the girl who was patiently waiting for his answer, her eyes watching him with curiosity. "Yeah," He murmured in defeat. This may be a bit of a blow to the ego but it was far, far better than having his ego damaged by his teammates.

A grin made its way to the blue-haired girl's lips, opening the umbrella and positioning it above her as she slowly walked into the rain before ushering Kei to take refuge beside her. Giving a small nod, Kei fixed his gym bag to rest on his shoulders and followed her instructions.

"Pardon me," He mumbled in a somewhat polite yet begrudging undertone as he entered the comfort of the umbrella.

"O-oh no…" Kei shot the girl a glance only to see her trying her very best to stand on her toes in order to keep the umbrella over him. Her determined look made him snort, which thankfully got by unnoticed by her. Once Kei saw that she had at the very least stabilized her hold, he began walking, a small, sadistic smirk plastered on his face knowing the girl would try her very best to keep up with his long strides while making sure he won't get wet.

And he was right, he has yet to feel a single droplet.

He only stopped walking when they had reached an intersection and he was letting a car pass by; Kei took this opportunity to look at his 'savior' and what he saw was beyond what he had expected.

The sight of the girl made his eyes wide – her face was flushed from effort, her hair was messier compared to what she looked like earlier, and the thing that made Kei astonished the most was how she was half-drenched. The only thing that wasn't wet was him and her school bag.

Suddenly, Kei's chest felt heavy. Was it guilty? Psh, why would he feel guilty for someone who he just met today?

"Tch."

Carefully, pulled the umbrella away gently from her hands. His stoic eyes met an astonished and curious one. "It's okay, Tsukishima-san." She spoke, trying to get the umbrella back.

Both her action and the sound of his surname made his brows knit as he snagged the umbrella this time with force. "You know my name?" His tone was cold, demanding even yet the girl didn't seem to mind. His bitterness was met with a small snicker – this ticked him off – what was so funny? If the umbrella wasn't hers then he would of took off already.

"What are you, a stal-"

"We're in the same class, silly." Her voice was laced with amusement, another snicker leaving her lips.

Oh. So that's why she looked so familiar.

"Tch."

He could feel his face heat up from slight embarrassment, looking away from her. Kei then began to walk again without a word – he just honestly wanted this to get over with. He could hear footsteps from behind him, indicating that she was indeed still following him.

Kei was grateful she didn't poke fun on the subject of him not recognizing her; he was more grateful that she also did not made a big deal out of it – some people would – hell, he knew these kind of people.

Moments passed with their silence undisrupted and he thanked heavens above that this girl wasn't as annoying as most. She didn't tried to make petty conversation – he liked that. She was tolerable, he decided.

"O-oh no, Tsukishima!"

Suddenly, his whole body felt cold. He was now more aware of the breeze kissing his skin… was it always this cold? No.

"Tsukishima-san! Are okay?!" Her voice has once again pulled him back to reality. Kei blinked once… twice…

He was drenched.

He was absolutely and positively drenched.

A car had apparently sped beside them while he was spacing out, ran through a puddle near the side walk and splashed them by accident. And he though the day couldn't get worse, too,

"You need to change, you're going to get sick!"

"I'm fine," He answered coolly despite the annoyed look on his face. "Let's go." Kei was about to begin walking again but was stopped by a hand, a cold hand at that, tugging on his arm. The blond was about to glare at his companion, who he noticed was just as drenched as him, wearing a determined look on her face.

What is her problem? He thought. It was wasn't like they were friend with each other. Yet, somehow, he found it hard to say no to those eyes. "And just how do you suggest wechange?"

"My house's nearby."

Kei did a quick scan of their surroundings, his was a couple of blocks more. With a defeated sigh, he turned back to her. "Fine. Lead the way." He mumbled.

This doesn't mean anything, he said to himself, it meant nothing in fact. Tsukishima Kei was just not fond of wearing wet clothes.

The girl went to the opposite direction of where they were heading, making him frown. Did they pass her house?

"We just did."

… Apparently he wondered aloud.

"Why?" It was a vague question but he was sure she'll get it.

"So you could go home dry… Not that it matters, apparently since we got drenched either way."

The blue-haired girl took a left turn, a few more steps, before halting in front of one of the houses lined up. Whilst she was opening the gate, Kei sneak a peek on the house's name plate – Murakami it read. The girl seemed to have noticed him reading it because when he looked at her, he was greeted with a smile.

"Yukio Murakami." She said before ushering him in. "Mom and Dad won't be back until midnight or tomorrow morning," Yukio explained whilst removing her shoes, him doing the same. "And my older brother won't be home until much later so we're pretty much alone here."

Once her shoes and socks were off, she slipped in to pink house slippers. "Oh, you can use my brother's." She informed him before rushing inside. Kei slipped on the blue ones, he assumed that was her brothers, before taking a step inside and placing his gym bag on the floor to the side and then the umbrella. "Pardon for the interruption." He murmured to no one out of habit.

He blinked, looking around – nothing special about it, he concluded. Just the usual two-story house much similar to his.

He saw Yukio carrying clothes and a towel in her arms as she was rushing down the stairs. "There's a guest restroom there. These are my pajamas – well, my brother's old shirt to be exact, I think it'll fit you. There's his shorts there, too" She gestured to the hallway to his left before handing him the clothes he was supposed to wear. "Take your time!" A grin formed on her face while Kei rolled his eyes. "Yeah" was all he answered, going to where she directed him.

Exiting the bathroom after a quick shower, Kei heard shuffling from the kitchen. Assuming that was Yukio, he marked that as his next destination. While walking to it, he did not fail to notice the fan on in the empty living room; the fan was directed to the coffee table where Yukio's uniform rests. Shrugging, he decide to place his drenched clothes beside it to dry, too, before continuing to where he heard the shuffling.

Once he reached his destination, Kei couldn't help but blink at what he saw. There was his classmate, positioning a chair under the open cupboard of their kitchen in order to get god knows what. Watching her, Kei strode quietly behind her whilst she began to climb, taking note of the shirt she wore that read 'Aoba Johsai'.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked as he placed his towel around his neck, his gaze not leaving her and a brow raised.

"Tsukishima!" She squeaked, almost losing her balance as she desperately grabbed the edge of the cupboard's shelf for balance. Kei couldn't help but smirk, noticing Yukio dropped honorifics if she was in shock. "O-oh," She gathered herself. "I was just going to grab some su…gar…" The words died in her mouth as she watched Kei easily grabbed the container of sugar from the most highest shelf in ease.

"Totally not fair."

He smirked. "What was it even doing in a place you can't reach in the first place?"

"Brother," She huffed, snagging the container away from his hands as she hopped off the seat she was standing on. "Go watch some TV, I'll make tea for the both of us." She instructed. Deciding there was no harm to it, Kei went to the living room as instructed, grabbed the remote, sat on the couch and started to just flick through the channels.

"Hey, Tsukishima-san?" Kei glanced at her direction, seeing her exit the exit the kitchen with a tray that consisted of two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"Hm?"

"I just remembered…" He turned back to the TV. "We have homework, don't we?"

Click. The channels changed.

Silence. She continued, taking it as a sign that he was listening.

"Can you help me? I'm not good at Literature and my brother won't help me."

Click

"No."

Click

"What?" She whined.

Click

"Why not?"

"Because I don't feel like doing it right now." Click.

"Pleasseee?" Click

"No." Click.

… Click … Click … Click …

"Argh. Fine!" She huffed, stomping in front of him and placing the tray angrily on the free space of the coffee table, grabbed her cup, and plopped down beside him. God, Kei didn't even had to look to know she was pouting. He can feel her sulking.

Still, he ignored her. He took the tea that she offered, sipped, and instantly felt the warmth spread throughout his body, making him sigh in relief. And while he was at it, he might as well get comfortable and help himself with the crackers, too.

After a while, he heard a small 'thud' beside him, only to find out that Yukio had fallen asleep curled up in the corner of the couch. The thud was her cup falling from her hands, the rug on the floor cushioning it's fall.

"Time to go, I guess." Kei stood and turned the TV off before picking up the cup from the floor and placed it back to the tray. He then began to collect his clothes that was now only slightly damp. Silently, he decided to just give back the clothes he was wearing some other time and went to where he placed his bag, shoving his clothes inside – he then proceeded to pull a notebook and a pencil out, opening it in a specific page and scribbling something inside it before going back to the couch and placing the notebook on the coffee table. In reality, he was actually done with the homework since lunch at school, which is why he refused to do it with her… that and he really did not feel doing anything.

Slipping his shoes on, he grabbed both his bag and Yukio's umbrella and proceeded to leave, locking the door for extra measure as he left.

A few hours later, Yukio was woken up by someone nudging her, making her groan. "Yuki, go sleep on your bed, damn it." Another groan. "Also, did you bring someone home?"

Now this made her eyes open, just in time to witness her brother picking something up from the table and tossing it to her. "Think they left it here."

"Thanks Ryu.." She picked up the object from her lap and scanned through the notebook – she was a hundred percent sure that she and Tsukishima did not do the homework so why?

She stopped on a page, seeing the kanji of her surname. Murakami, here's the answer to the Literature homework – educate yourself. Also, erase this note before you give it back."

A silly smile worked its way up her lips before rushing to stand. "Night Ryu!" She called to her brother, who she assumed was in the kitchen, while running upstairs to her room to do the homework.

The next day, she was again awakened by her brother, who she heard was pounding at the door.

Groggily, Yukio stood up. showered and dressed before heading downstairs, the smell of bacon greeting her. Guess that means her parents were back because Ryu never cooked on a school day. Something about taking too much time, she reckoned.

"Morning sweetie," Her mom voice sung happily as she entered the kitchen and sat down. Immediately, a plate of bacon and eggs were placed before her. "Morning Mom," She greeted back, "Morning Dad," All she got was a grunt that sounded like "Mornin'" from her dad that was adjacent to her, reading the newspaper. Not minding the nonchalant reply, she began to eat.

In the middle of her meal, her brother announced he was leaving – she could also hear him complaining about how it was raining or something like that before hearing the door close, however, this was quickly followed by the door opening again. "Ryu must have left something." Her mother assumed, tsking.

"Mom, Dad… There's a guy outside. And he's looking for Yukio, should I beat him up?"

Yukio's eyes widened, choking on her bacon from her brother's announcement. "Oh my!" Her mother gasped, "Does our little snowflake finally have a boyfriend?!" She squealed. Even her dad put down the newspaper and stared at her in disbelief. This made her wolf down her food, stand up and rushed to get her bag upstairs to leave. While she was running down, she heard her mom gasp once more, "Yuki, why didn't you tell me you had such a cute boyfriend."

"Yukio, you better have some explanation."

"I'm going to get my old baseball bat."

"He's not my boyfriend!" She yelled, squeezing past her family who was all by the door looking at whoever it was – hell she didn't even know who was there but she was damn sure it wasn't a boyfriend.

Once she was out, she locked gazed with Tsukishima Kei staring with an expression that looks… constipated? He was standing outside their gate, holding a black umbrella up to protect his self from the rain.

"I'm leaving!" She announced, running out and grabbing Kei's arm so he'd ran with her. After a block or two of running, she let go of him, wheezing.

"Christ, Murakami, don't run if you're going to look like your dying afterwards." Kei snickered, holding his umbrella above them.

"Why.." Pant, "Why did you pick me up?"

"I didn't." He deadpanned. "I was going to drop this off." Kei showed the folded umbrella of hers, "I didn't say you should come – plus, it's just turned 5 – what are you even going to do in school?"

Yukio's eyes widened, "What!? Then why did you turn up my house so early!" She huffed, reaching for her umbrella.

"Morning practice." He easily maneuvered the umbrella away to where her height won't reach, smirking as she began to jump, this, of course, only made him to hold it away higher.

"Tsukishima – san." She whined, pouting. This made Kei snort as he ignored her and began to walk towards school. "Come on, short stack. I'm going to be late."

"But my umbrella!" The statement made the blond roll his eyes. "How dense are you. We're already sharing an umbrella, aren't we?"

"Oh… but why?"

"Because I hate being in debt." He answered easily. "But you already gave me your homework, wasn't that payment?" She inquired, tilting her head. Kei glanced at her before smirking.

"Then you're the one in debt now."


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the walk to school was pretty uneventful. It was silent – well, it was probably silent because Tsukishima Kei wore his headphones after a few moments. Yukio didn't seem to mind, though. He didn't hear or see any forms of protest from her – she was definitely tolerable in his book. Which is probably why he knew he won't really regret going to her place early in the morning to supposedly drop her umbrella; he didn't expect her family to greet her like that, of course, but it wasn't something that bothersome so he shrugged it off easily.

But little did he know that he'll actually regret walking with her soon enough.

When they arrived at Karasuno, Kei took his headphones off and gave the purple umbrella in his possession back to its original owner.

"Tsukishima-san, can I watch your team practice?" Yukio asked while putting her umbrella away in her school bag. It actually stopped raining a few minutes ago but Kei refused to put the umbrella down for the reason that he did not want to risk being wet if the rain suddenly poured out of the blue again.

"No." Kei answered flatly, now folding his umbrella as he deemed they were close enough to shelter if it ever did rain again.

"What? But why?"

"Just because." He sighed. Maybe he has to rethink her being tolerable.

"What should I do before class starts then?" Yukio pouted, not wanting to be alone in the building for two more hours.

"How should I know? That's your problem." He replied, quirking a brow to the pouting girl before him. Yukio's lips part as if she was about to retort something yet was deliberately cut off by a voice that belonged neither to both of them.

"TSUKISHIMA!"

Kei could feel the blood on his face drain when he heard the voice, freezing on his spot. "Tsukishima-san?" Yukio inquired with a worried tone, noticing how her new found 'friend' considerably paled. "Are you okay?"

Footsteps that sounded rushed were heard and Kei didn't even bother to answer the girl as he mentally braces his self. Suddenly, a boy was now in front of them, eyeing Yukio with admiration. Uncomfortable, the girl took a step behind Kei, hiding behind him.

"Oi, don't use me as a shield. Tch." He adjusted his glasses, an annoyed look on his face. He wasn't annoyed at her – he was more annoyed that his team mate couldn't have waited a few minutes to show up with his impeccable timing.

"Tsukishima! Who's this girl!?" Yukio eyed the boy while still hiding behind Kei. He was short, probably just the same height as her. His black hair was ruffled upwards while a tuft of his hair that just falls on the center of his forehead was bleached, having a color of what seemed to be a dirty blond. His brown eyes were still directed at her, his expression now dreamy.

"Noya-san!" Again, it was a voice that didn't belong to them. However, both boys seemed to recognize it yet they had opposite reactions about the voice in question.

"Ryuu! Come here, quick!" Noya backed a step away, waving behind them to possibly the owner of the new voice. "Tsukishima has a girlfriend!" Now he was a few steps away, Yukio also placed distance between her and Kei.

"Tch." The blond's hands found its way to the girl's arms, wrapping his fingers around it, only then did Yukio realize how his fingers were long and slender, his palm was calloused from his sport and how it was considerably warm despite the weather. "Let's go, Murakami." Kei then proceeded to pull her towards the school building, a bitter frown on his face. However, not even five steps from where they were, the pair was once again stopped by the same boy, but this time he had a friend with him.

A delinquent-like person was staring at her intensely, making her falter and go back to hiding behind Kei. This made the blond sigh. Peering from behind her tall friend, she watched the new comer's face morphed into an expression of shock. "She's cute!" The guy, who Yukio noticed was bald now that she felt safe behind the tall tower named Kei. "Oi, Tsukishima, how did you even land a cute girl like this you punk?!" The bald guy's face now looked like he was trying to pick a fight with a blond, however, when Yukio – who was getting worried for him – peered behind to check the blond's face, it didn't look affected at all, like he was used to this kind of scenes.

"Guys!" Yet again, another voice rang out, and like the two scenarios earlier, it didn't belong to the four of them.

Simultaneously, all four of them look to where the voice originated, which is by the side where the second gym of the school was located. There, three boys stood by the entrance, watching them with both an amused and curious expressions. "Practice is about to start!" The one with ash grey hair shouted, waving at them.

"They're your teammates?" Yukio piped in, stepping away from Kei to look at him properly. "Unfortunately," He sighed, starting to make his way to the gym, effectively leaving her with the two guys that was fascinated of her presence.

"Hey, hey!" The boy who she assumed was Noya called her attention, a pout on his face. "Are you really that – " He jabbed a finger to Kei's direction "- guy's girlfriend?"

"Uhm… No. I'm Yukio Murakami from class 1-4, Tsukishima-san's classmate." Yukio introduced, bowing in front of the two. For some reason, the two looked at one another before sighing in relief when she had denied their assumptions.

"Phew, I thought that four eyes was going to have a girlfriend before us." The bald guy sighed before smirking at her "I'm Ryuunosuke Tanaka, and this here is Yuu Noshinoya, 2nd years." Tanaka gestured to the boy with bleached hair who was grinning at her. "Do you play any sports, Murakami-chan?"

"Not really, I'm just here because Tsukishima-san… accidentally picked me up." Well, she wasn't lying since apparently Kei didn't plan to make her tag along this early.

Once again, they heard someone calling for them to join practice before they're punished, making the two pale up. "Want to watch practice Murakami-chan?" Tanaka offered. Yukio shook her head no, smiling apologetically, "Tsukishima-san wouldn't want that."

"Eh?!" They huffed simultaneously, "We'll take care of Tsukishima for you." Noya grabbed her wrist and began to drag her to the gym, the blue-haired girl's face heating up from the sudden contact. Once inside, the three guys who were calling them earlier by the gym's entrance approached them, eyeing her.

"Hello there," The guy with the ash grey hair spoke first, a warm smile on his face. "I'm Koshi Sugawara, and you are?"

"Oh.. I'm Yukio Murakami from class 1-4."

"Well I hope these two aren't pestering you, Murakami-chan?" Sugawara's eyes narrowed dangerously, gesturing to both Noya and Tanaka making the two boys flinch. From behind him, Yukio can make out two more boys walking towards them – Sugawara seems to have notice this and peered from his shoulders, a smile once again falling on his lips. "That one's Sawamura Daichi," He pointed to the one who had short, black hair and was wearing a very approachable aura that was similar to Sugawara's. "He's the captain," Sugawara continued before pointing to the one beside Daichi. "He's Azumane Asahi, our ace." Yukio can feel the pride in Sugawara's voice, subconsciously making her smile.

Her light blue eyes scanned the gym, before spotting a certain red-head who was arguing with a person who was much taller than he was and had the same shade of hair as her. "Hinata-kun!" She called out, waving her hand around for him to notice her. Kei, who already changed into his jersey and was starting to warm up, glance at her direction, quirking a brow. The blond then directed his attention to Hinata, who's eyes brightened when he saw the woman in question. "Yuki-chan!"

They're on a first name basis? Kei thought bitterly before shaking his head. He didn't care, he just wondered seeing that Yukio was easily intimidated as far as he knows… not that he knows much since he only got to officially meet her yesterday. Why was she even here? Kei obviously stated that he did not want her to watch his practice earlier.

"Focus, dumbass!" The guy beside Hinata hit him on top off the head – this, of course, sparked a spat between the two. A worry painted Yukio's face, wondering if it was a bad move to call on Hinata since it entailed a fight. Apparently, her expression didn't go unnoticed as someone approached her from the side saying "Don't worry, Murakami-san, they do that all the time." She glanced at the person beside her, her eyes widening when she recognized him. "Yamaguchi-kun?"

"What brings you to practice?" The green head – or was it brown? She wasn't too sure – asked her. She didn't blame him for asking, it was his first time to come after all and she didn't really knew anyone that well since she just met Hinata at the first day of school when he was lost and, well, she was late, so they had to find their rooms together. "Cheering for Hinata?"

Hearing his childhood friend's name and Yukio's voice in one conversation, Kei couldn't help but listen in. So when Yamaguchi Tadashi asked why the girl was dare, he didn't want his friend to know that he had some sort of connection to her, he butted in before Yukio can even reply.

"Yamaguchi," His voice still calm as usual. "Hurry up." Kei felt relieved when he saw Yamaguchi seemingly looking apologetic as he reluctantly goodbye to Yukio.

Good. He thought – he didn't want Yamaguchi to know because Kei knew that his friend would just bother him or at least be extra friendly with her and ask her to tag along with them for the sake of him having a friend who isn't him. Kei knew he meant well but he wasn't going to give him an opportunity to do it. Yamaguchi doesn't have to, and frankly, he didn't want him to. Also, he wanted his private life separate from his club life – not that he and Yukio would talk again after today, heck, today was just a misunderstanding of her family thus forcing her to leave her place earlier than she have planned. All in all, this was a onetime thing and he didn't want her to be attached to his teammates… or them being attached to her if he didn't knew better.

When Yamaguchi had left her, Daichi also announced that everyone should start warming up so she was left to her own accord. She picked the wall nearest to her, going to that side and sitting on the floor. Yukio had placed her bag beside her and rested her back against the wall to watch them warm up.

After a while, the boys decided to do a practice match with the teams being Hinata, the guy she assumes as Kageyama, Tanaka and Noya while the opposing team was Kei, Asahi, Sugawara and Daichi with Hinata's team facing her therefore Kei's team was on her side of the gym. Yukio wasn't too sure what the remainder of the team was doing, her eyes focusing on how the match will go – was she too blame? Two of her friends were there… well, one technically, and there's Kei who's simply is in a grey field for now.

Inside the four walls of the gym, all she could hear was the constant noise of skin hitting leather, leather hitting the wax floor of the gymnasium, the yelling of various phrases such as "Nice Receive" and "Don't mind." It was fun watching them, she concluded.

It was Kei's turn to serve, and he honestly just wanted to get over this. He really hated it when he was assigned to a practice match with Kageyama and Hinata – it doesn't matter if they were in the same team or in the opposing during practice, he just hated it. It always entails that their match wouldn't end until those two were satisfied and the seniors did nothing to stop them; hell, they even encourage them too. And today wasn't any different, almost – no – all of their teammates who weren't part of their match had already left and got ready, so when he retreated to the back line to serve, he was surprise when Yukio was still seating by the wall, watching them.

The two met eye to eye, her vibrant hues staring into his lazy ones, and from where he stood, he saw her smile and do a small wave. This made Kei huff, not returning the gesture as he turned back to the net to serve the ball and quite lazily, too. There were a few more rallies, neither team wanting to give up (except him. He was not even chasing the ball properly anymore), and Kei almost believe that they could go on forever until the warning bell for clubs with morning practice rang out through the entire school, signaling that they had 30 minutes to pack things up.

The sudden school bell rang when Hinata was doing a quick – he was caught off guard, thus throwing the rhythm of his hit and throwing off the angle of the ball. The hit was still solid, Kei noted, however, it was obvious that the ball was out so there was no point in chasing it… Until he realized where the trajectory was heading for. He even did a quick glance to confirm and the ball was indeed heading for where Yukio was seating. Yukio didn't knew that the ball was coming to her direction in an alarming rate either – the girl was busy checking her bag for something.

Damn her, He thought. He already told her not to come and now she'll probably have a ball on her face in a few moment. She probably deserved it for not following him but, for some reason, his body acted on his own. Before he knew it, he was sprinting to the other end where she was, going as fast as his long legs can go. When he saw how near was the ball to her, he went for a dive, hoping the his long arms can reach far enough to stop the ball.

Dramatic as it seems, Kei felt like everything happened in slow motion and he felt relieve than he ever did before when he felt the sting of the ball hitting his arm. And just like that, the moment ended as he slid down the floor.

"Tsukishima!" Kei heard her gasp, followed by rushed footsteps. The blond tried hard not to smirk as he pulled his self up. She really does drop honorifics when she's shocked.

When he stood up, their eyes met once more, but this time, hers was filled with worry. "Tch," He looked away, cursing himself for trying to save her – he didn't even knew why he saved her, he didn't wanted to. "This is why I told you not to watch." He reprimanded, turning his back to her as he walked away, leaving her to shower and get dressed.

A deep frown was etched in his features and only one thought kept echoing in the his mind…

I really do need to separate volleyball from my private life.


	3. Chapter 3

It has been a full week since the incident of Kei diving for the ball in order to make sure Yukio would not be hit. Which means it also has been a full week since they had last properly talked to each other.

After morning practice that day, Yukio apologized to him the whole way back to their class – he could remember it clearly, she kept on saying sorry, her light blue eyes that were always so bright tearing up as she bowed continuously as they walked; how she had managed to keep that up, he wasn't so sure. It was amusing, nonetheless. Afternoon came and Yukio approached Kei, fidgeting for a moment before presenting the notebook that he had left the day he had been to her home. She had expressed her gratitude before saying sorry again once more. And of course, when class ended, the dark haired girl has once again walked over to him apologize before bidding him goodbye and a good luck on practice.

Kei had to admit that her actions were amusing and he was purposely not saying that he accepts her apology in order to feed her anxiety. He'd only stare at her before walking away or ignore her completely.

And after that day, he didn't talked to Yukio again. He had no reason to anyway.

Well, in his opinion that is. Apparently Yamaguchi thought otherwise. It was probably karma but ever since Yamaguchi saw Yukio apologizing to Kei, the green head has not stop asking the blond for a week as to why he refuses to speak to the girl. She seemed nice in Yamaguchi's point of view, and she didn't seem scared of Kei for one thing. Plus, he really did think that his blond best friend should socialize more seeing as he only hanged out with him and rarely talked to his teammates; and if he did talk it was mostly just a snide remark or an insult so when he got wind of Kei's action he wasted no time in trying to make him approach her. Or pestering, rather.

When a week has passed with Kei not even glancing at Yukio, Yamaguchi was slowly losing hope.

* * *

Yukio was not feeling well – she felt drained, her actions were sluggish. It was after class and she gratefully had no club activities that day. The Literature club only met twice a week, mostly Tuesdays and Thursdays unless announced otherwise; and since today was Friday, all she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

A sigh escaped her lips as she exited the faculty room, dropping off her classmates papers just like their teacher had asked her to. She didn't mind helping, she just wished that sometimes, she knew how to say 'no' seeing that she didn't felt well already (not able to say no was also the reason as to how she wound up in literature club… which she had later found out that it was related to the school's newspaper club).

Her thoughts was cut off when she heard a door slide open just ahead of her followed by someone saying her name.

"Yo, Murakami!" She came face-to-face with Noya that wore his usual grin. Asahi then came out of the same room, which Yukio realized was the library. "Oh, Nishinoya-senpai, Asahi-senpai." She greeted with a small smile.

The next thing she knew, Noya was bragging to Asahi as to how he just got called and acknowledged as a senior. And suddenly, he was grinning at her again. "We were just going to practice." He informed her before to Asahi's direction. "I just picked this guy up to make sure he isn't late to practice." The shorter guy huffed. Only then did Yukio realized that Noya was already geared up for training while the Ace was still in his uniform. "You want to come?"

"U-uhm…" Oh no, she thought. She had to refuse… she had to. Yukio wanted to come, sure, if she was feeling better. Also, Kei's words as to how she shouldn't have went to practice, and the idea of Kei getting hurt because of her haunted her. But… she didn't know how to say no.

"I'm… n-not sure." She stuttered, trying to avoid eye contact as she fidgeted. "I'm not sure if Tsukishima-san would be fine with it." The girl blurted out, wishing that was enough to get them off her back.

It wasn't.

"Tsukishima?" Noya snorted, "I'll take care of him for you." He said proudly, puffing his chest. This made Asahi smile apologetically. "You don't have to come if you don't want to," The larger guy said gently.

Without waiting for Yukio's reply, Noya instantly smashed the idea on the ground. "Non-sense!" He huffed, a smug smirk on his face. "I'll teach that Tsukishima not to mess with my juniors!" The libero exclaimed as he walked away to go to the gym, ignoring Asahi sighing and mumbling how Kei was also his junior.

Blinking, Yukio's confused eyes met Asahi's soft and apologetic ones. "I guess you're stuck with us for now… Sorry."

She was really amazed how his personality completely contradicted his features. "It's fine, Asahi-senpai." She reassured him, smiling.

"Guess we better follow him, huh?" A grin replaced his smile.

When they got to the gymnasium, the others were already warming up. Asahi even had the heart to walk her to the benches where the coach and the teacher sat, introducing her and everything before jogging away to change to his jersey. Yukio didn't really talked with the coach and the teacher after their introductions, mostly because they were all focused on watching the team practice than doing small talks. Even with their manager, who she hadn't been introduced to, Yukio only exchanged nods and smile of acknowledgement before focusing back to watching the team practice.

As the practice went by, Yukio met honey-brown eyes that undoubtedly belonged to Kei. He shot her a glare, rolled his eyes – this made the girl anxious; her stomach suddenly didn't feel so well as if she was about to vomit. She knew she shouldn't have come. She didn't want Kei angry at her – hell she didn't want anyone angry at her.

Suddenly, Noya's voice rang out inside the gym. Apparently the libero noticed the spectacled blond's look at Yukio. "Tsukishima!" He shouted, interrupting their coach who was splitting teams for their practice match. "Don't even think about bothering Murakami-chan!"

Crap.

Suddenly, all eyes were on her. A small silence occurred before the blond cleared his throat and shot a smirk at his senior. "Why not Nishinoya-senpai? Is she your girlfriend now?" Kei teased.

Both Yukio's and Noya's eyes widen, their faces also flustered.

"G-girlfriend?" Noya swallowed thickly. Despite the fact that he looked like he always wants a girlfriend, poor little Noya couldn't imagine dating someone. Not their manager, and especially not Yukio who he had only just met. The same goes to Yukio, never had she even thought about dating yet – heck apart from Yamaguchi that she talks to from time to time (who probably just felt guilty that Kei kept ignoring her), and Kei who she had a few encounter with, she never really had a guy that she can properly talk to, or call as a friend for that matter. This was probably the result of guys being scared of her brother in Aoba Johsei. She always only had a few friends, all girls, which she left at her former school.

Being the first one to recover in the midst of a confused silence, the coach, Ukai, cleared his throat, tried to calm things down and made sure not to put Noya and Kei in the same team for now.

And so, the team ended up as Noya, Asahi, Sugawara, Tanaka and two more Yukio didn't know yet – the opposing team was made up of Kei, Daichi, Kageyama, Hinata, Yamaguchi, and another she was unfamiliar with; with Noya's team starting at the side where Yukio sat.

As if to add fuel to what he started earlier, Kei shot her a teasing smirk, making her face heat up just before the match started. The blue-haired girl had no idea what the blond was playing at but boy was she confused as to what Kei said; did she and Noya seemed dating?

… Didn't they need to go on a date before they could be considered as a couple?

Your girlfriend – the words echoed inside her head, Kei's smirk flashing in her thoughts. D… Did Noya liked her?! Oh heavens, what's to like about her? Actually, never mind what's likeable about her, the most important part is how can she say to Noya that she didn't like him? Didn't rejection hurt? Back when she was in her previous school, her friends often whined in their group that a certain guy rejected them and they get so upset they cry… She didn't want Noya to cry – especially because of her.

Yukio found herself unable to follow the match despite trying, still too hung up about Kei's proclamation of her as someone's girlfriend. Before she knew it, the first set was done and she didn't even knew who won. Silently, she reprimanded herself to focus on the second half.

Once the teams switched sides of the court, Yukio made sure that she'll watch intensely. And she did; before she knew it, the score was a tie of 23 per team and from what she could tell, both teams were getting heated.

Kageyama served and once again, the rallying of the ball began. Kei ended the tie when he spiked against Tanaka, overcoming his block with an overly smug smirk. "Is that all you got, senpai?" He teased, snickering as he got back in position. This remark, of course, made the bald guy angry, huffing and shouting at how the smug blond should learn to respect his elders, making Kei snicker, fueling Tanaka's heat more.

Once the ball was served, it was obvious that Tanaka wanted to spike to get back. This did not go unnoticed by Sugawara, who tossed one to Tanaka when he saw he was free… or at least he thought. When the 2nd year spiked the ball with all his power, Kei suddenly appeared, looming over him as Tanaka spike got deflected by Kei's fingertips – barely and clumsily, yet a block nonetheless. This interrupted the ball's spin as it bounced off the blond's hands… and suddenly, Kei wished he hadn't block him.

A sense of déjà vu washed over him as he figured that the ball will probably fly to Yukio's direction again – and this time he can't save her. For one, he was still in midair and the ball was too fast even if he was in the ground. Gosh, what's with this girl and ball being thrown off course to her direction? Suddenly, he felt a breeze behind him and saw a streak of orange.

Hinata, he thought. He could probably save that.

And so tried the orange-haired boy did, he ran as fast as he can, jumping to save the ball. Of course, Hinata being Hinata, jumped too high that even he didn't expect it.

Kei's eyes widened as he could do nothing but watch as Hinata crashed face first unto Yukio, knocking the girl off the bench. They fell in the gymnasium's floor with a loud thud, Hinata over Yukio.

"Yuki-chan!" Hinata squeaked, trying hard to scramble up to his feet immediately. He looked below him only to see a passed out Yukio with a bleeding lip. The sight made the orange head screech, fainting in shock in the process.

"Murakami-chan!" Noya shouted, also shouting Hinata's name yet Kei did not process that fact. All he was thinking was how dare Noya call her when this was technically the libero's fault? Yukio wasn't like their manager Shimizu, he thought, she can't defend herself from a flying ball towards her direction unlike anyone else in the room and yet he still insisted bringing her?

Or that's how he interpreted it, really. Why else would Noya be so sensitive as to how he looked at her? Yukio probably told the short guy that he didn't want her to go to practice and Noya saw this as his moment to shine. Anyway, it shouldn't matter to him – he already warned the girl, it's her fault for getting reeled into practice by Noya. You'd think the first incident would at least teach her a lesson. Apparently not.

"Tsukishima!" Kei snapped out of his thoughts, hearing his coach shout his name. "Don't just stand there!" Ukei reprimanded, "Take Murakami to the infirmary!"

Now this made Kei's face scrunch into a frown.

Him? Why him? Hell, Noya should do it – he was the one who invited her.

He opened his mouth to complain but was met by the receiving end of his coach's glare. Kei silently decided that it would be more troublesome if Ukei ended up shouting at him and then carry the girl. So, with much reluctance and annoyance, he decided to do what just Ukei said, cursing Noya in silence; it was too obvious that the libero liked his classmate… but then again Noya seemed to like any girl he deemed cute enough.

… And Yukio is fairly cute.

Stop it, Kei. It wasn't time for those thoughts – hell, it's never time for those thoughts. Plus, something about Yukio nagged him off in a bad way; sure she was tolerable as far as his patience was involved, and she acted fairly normal but something Kei noted seemed to be in the back of his head, waiting to be remembered.

Not wanting to get shouted at again, Kei ran to where they were gathering, only then did he saw Yukio's state. She was pale – paler than usual and something inside him told him it wasn't because Hinata crashed unto her. He remembered the moment he looked at her earlier before the match started, she already looked exhausted in Kei's book – and now that he thought about it, she wasn't her usual self in class – she didn't talk to Yamaguchi or even greeted Kei with either a hi or a smile like she usually did. Greetings that the blond didn't really acknowledge, much less reply to. Yet she still does it ever since the umbrella sharing had happened.

The female was sprawled on the floor, her dark-blue hair a mess around her, her eyes was closed and there was a rather deep cut on her lower lip which she probably had bitten accidentally on impact. Kei kneeled beside her body, slid a hand under her knee and another around shoulders before gently picking her up, a bit surprised at how light she felt; for some reason he deemed her heavier. Not that he thought she as fat but… was her weight even normal right now?

Once she was secured in his arms, the blond jogged out of the gymnasium, hearing shouts behind him as to how he should stay with her until she wakes up… which he would gladly do, it was an excuse to stop practicing after all.

Kei had successfully bought her to the infirmary and was now just waiting for her to wake up so they could go home; the team had dropped by to check on her and, well, they had strictly given Kei instructions that he should wait for her to wake up and walk her home so when the blond saw her stirring, he didn't waste any moment trying to poke her awake.

Now, normally the blond would just ditch something such as this – he wasn't her baby sitter. But Kei had this feeling that someone from his team will ask if he brought her home, and if he didn't, he'd had an earful. It was an easy choice between being stuck with a fairly tolerable person than having his ear nagged off by his teammates. He was still a bit pissed off as to why he was stuck with her than Noya but then again, it's not like Noya could carry her – he'll just probably drag her to the infirmary.

Ironic really, he stayed with her to ditch practice but now practice was over and he can't leave her so now he ended up staying longer.

"Oi," He mumbled, going for another poke on her shoulder. "Murakami, you up? We need to go."

"Tsu… Tsukishima… san…?" A hoarse whisper came, light blue eyes barely open.

"About time." Kei got up and stretched, yawning. The duration of her sleep was too long that he was actually dressed in his uniform now.

"What happened?" The girl was now sitting up, looking around. "Where are we?"

A sigh was what she got as an answer. "Just get your ass up, I want to go home."

And so they did. Yukio got up and got ready with Kei hovering behind her, waiting for her before walking home together. The trip was silent until they got to the intersection where Yukio's street was.

"Well, I guess I'll be off. Thanks for walking me home Tsukishima-san." A small smile made its way to her lips as Kei scowled. "Don't be an idiot." The blond scoffed, "Not only is our road the same way but I also wanted to tell you to stop going to our practices… again." His tone was detached, a cold smirk on his face.

"But… Nishinoya-senpai…" She began only to be cut off.

"I almost got injured the first time," Well, that wasn't her fault but whatever, right? "And now Hinata actually did got hurt. Are you sure you still want to go to our practices?" Kei swore he saw her eyes tear up – this made him look at the other direction. Were females that sensitive? No wonder he barely talked to them.

"Tch." He scoffed, completely avoiding eye contact.

"Go rest," This time, his voice was softer. "I'm going ho– " Before he can even finish his sentence, he heard footsteps running away from him, small sobs following. Figuring that was Yukio, a sigh escaped his lips. He just made a girl cry… well, it was her fault for not listening to him anyway.

Kei ran a hand through his hair, sighing wearily once more before finally going on his way home knowing that her faint haunting sobs would haunt him tonight.

* * *

Monday came fast and, like usual, Yukio was woken up by his brother's knocking and went downstairs to her mother's cooking, all dressed up.

She greeted her father before eating as she heard her brother Ryu announced that he was going. They all said their goodbyes, hearing him exit the house before the door opened again.

"Ryu forgot something?" Her mom thought aloud.

… Why did that sound awfully familiar…?

"That boyfriend's back!" Ryu's voice rang out making her pale. She tried to beat her family to the door, but couldn't of course seeing she still had to pick her school bag from her room upstairs. She didn't care now if it was early as hell, she won't sit inside her home being questioned by her mom and dad, they'd have to wait later.

Yukio pushed her family away from the door, meeting Kei's gaze as she exited. His piercing eyes made her remember what happened on Friday night, making her wonder why he was here now… was he going to say sorry?

Kei held up a paper bag, "Here, Murakami." The blue-haired girl blinked, going to receive the paper bag until her brother beat her to it.

Screw her brother reflexes.

The blond couldn't help but blink when the older of the Murakami siblings was narrowing his eyes on him as he took the paper bag he was giving to Yukio. The volleyball player noted that her brother was fast, perhaps he played sports?

Kei took the moment of Ryu checking the paper bag to do a quick assessment of him. The only thing similar to the siblings were their hair; dark blue like a sky without its stars. Ryu had dark green eyes while Yukio's were light blue like ice, he was tanned while she was pale, he was muscular and athletic from how his reflexes reacted when Kei showed the bag while she looked like she knew nothing about sports not to mention even playing one and had a small built. If Kei didn't know any better, he wouldn't even consider them as siblings.

"Yukio Murakami…" The growl emitting from Ryu pulled Kei from his thoughts. He watched as the brother turned to face his younger sibling, a dangerous aura coming from him. When Ryu turned, Kei couldn't help but notice that the brother was wearing a school jersey… an Aoba Johsai jersey at that – this made the blond's eyes narrow.

That was it.

At first he noted the Aoba Johsai shirt she once wore when he ended up in their place, and now here was her brother wearing a jersey of the school. That didn't bode well for Kei, especially now that tournaments was just around the corner.

…Oh how their team would be proud to know he was actually concerned about being spied on. Spied on, heh, Kei sounded lame, even to his own self.

He adjusted his glasses and pressed his lips into a thin line, watching the two siblings.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Ryu shoved the bag in Yukio's face, showing her the contents. The girl paled as she saw the shirt that she lent Kei the other day. "Why. Does. He. Has. These. Clothes." The older one of the pair growled word per word making the younger one swallow nervously. "And that cut!" Her brother's line of sight landed on his sister's lips that had a very noticeable cut on it. "Is he the cause of that too?!" Ryu demanded, his face red in anger.

"I… uh… I have to go." Yukio said slowly as she carefully tried to back away from her brother as she, yet again, grabbed Kei's wrist and made a run for it, ignoring the yells of her family members that faded into the background the longer she ran; once she deemed the distance between her brother and her was safe enough. This was the only time she was grateful that the guy was probably more concerned about his punctuality in morning practices and that the ride towards Aoba Johsai was at the opposite side of Karasuno's way – she was sure that sports nerd won't chase after her. But she would be so dead later.

The ravenette released the boy's wrist slowly and bent down, both her hand planted on her knees as she panted heavily before a coughing fit escaped her lips. It lasted a few seconds and, afterwards, Yukio composed herself, murmured a small 'pardon' and proceeded to walk towards the school direction without even a word to him, not even a glance.

Kei's eyes widen as he watched the retreating back of the girl. Was… Yukio ignoring him? Was she still upset about what happened last Friday? A deep frown etched its way to the blond's forehead wondering exactly why she was still acting like a child.

With a slightly damaged ego (it was supposed to be him who ignored, not vice versa), Kei tried to catch up with the girl, which was fairly easy, thanks to his long strides. "Murakami," He called out.

No response.

"Oi," The blond tried again, refusing to be completely ignored. "Murakami, aren't you at least going to say sorry for dragging and making me run?" He asked, looking down at the woman she was addressing to beside him. He was now slowing his stride, trying to match her pace, with a smirk shaping his mouth in amusement as he saw the girl's expression.

Her lips were jutted into a pout, face red from either exhaustion or annoyance for him, he didn't knew, he wished it was the latter though. His smirk grew wider as an idea formed in his mind. Picking his pace up a bit, he widened the distance between them before stepping in front of her, effectively blocking her path. The pout on girl's face only got worse as she tried to side step and pass him, this only resulted of him also side stepping and blocking her once more. This since happened for several more times – each block making her pout more prominent, each block making his smirk more wider – until the one being blocked finally had enough.

Her light blue eyes locked with the boy's honey coloured ones, a weary expression on her face. "Tsukishima – san," Yukio's tone made Kei raise an amused brow as her voice came out as a frustrated and tired growl. "You don't have to block my path, I'm not going to your practice and will now stir away from any teammates of yours." This time her tone was more tired than frustrated. For the nth, she tried to brush off Kei and was genuinely surprised when he had let her pass. She quickly masked her shock and continued to walk.

"Is it because you already got what you wanted, Murakami?" Kei called out with a distant, accusing tone. Again, the female simply shrugged him off – acting like she had not heard him and whatever it was he was saying.

Hearing his footsteps, Yukio unconsciously fastened hers in an attempt to leave him; this was, of course, futile as Kei had the advantage of having longer strides than she could ever hope for. "Murakami Yukio," The way the blond said her name sent shivers down her spine – and not in a good way.

Not used on being the receiving end of a cold shoulder, Kei became impatient fast, his usually in-check temper besting him.

It all happened to quickly for Yukio – she felt cold, long and slender fingers wrapped around her wrist before she realized she was being pulled back – the next thing she knew, her brain registered pain as she was roughly slammed unto the wall next to her, a groan of pain leaving her lips.

Kei's face was dangerously near hers, a dangerous glint can be seen in the spectacled blond's face. "Tell me honestly," He growled, "Are you a spy?"

An incredulous expression formed on the ravenette's face as she tried to pull her wrist free which was pinned on the wall just above her head. "What are you even saying?!" She gasped, fear reflecting in her eyes. "What spy?!"

"Aren't you from Aoba Johsai?" He prodded, his voice low.

"I was!" She continued to struggle, "Why would I even spy on you guys?! My brother's in the baseball team! And I don't even spy on them?! Why would I for volleyball?!" Yukio could feel her eyes burning up, the tears starting to form.

Once he noticed the tears, Kei felt his irrational temper subsiding – what is his problem? He took a step back, although never releasing the girl's wrist which still made her his captive. His gaze fell on the girl before him, watching how she had detached herself from the wall but seem to have given up on trying to pull her wrist free.

Well, this was awkward, even for him.

Yet, somehow, he still didn't want to let go of his pride. With narrowed eyes, he tugged the girl's wrist – although more gently than earlier – to catch her attention. Once their gazes meet, he huffed stubbornly at her. "I'll be the one to judge if you're truly a spy or not." He said with new found tenacity.

Yukio felt her jaw slackened in disbelief. This boy was impossible, she decided silently as the blond spared her a smirk that irked her of in the slightest bit.

Smirk still in place on his lips, Kei slowly released his grip from the girl before bring the same hand up to fix his glasses. "Let's go," He said casually as he turned around to continue walking towards their school. "I don't want to be late to practice because of you."

She stood there, dumbfounded, suddenly finding herself planted in place as she watched the retreating blond.

"You should really close your mouth before something flies inside it." Kei commented without much of a glance and for the first time in really long time, she regretted helping someone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so, this is the first entry after I decided to go through it as a series. I also wanted you guys to know that even if this does follow the anime, I won't be writing the volleyball scenes often because... Well, I suck at writing them. Lol. Sorry.** **Anyway, without further adieu, here is the chapter. Hopefully it's** ** _kind of_** **better now that I wrote this in a mindset of a series.**

* * *

On the same day of their little dispute early morning, Yukio approached Kei as soon as lunch came.

Yamguchi, who was on his way to his friend also, saw the ravenette go to the blond's desk. Curiousity piqued, he kept his distance safe enough to not disturb them by his presence but can also hear their conversation.

"Tsukishima-san," She began, earning her a glance from the blond who looked at her with a bored expression. "I..." Yukio began to fidget, her eyes casting down. "What can I do to convince you I'm not a spy?" She asked after a pause, willing her gaze back to the blond before her who raised a brow at her question. "Didn't I tell you that I'll be the one who'll judge that?"

"I know..." A sighed escaped her lips, "That's why I wanted to know what I can do to convince you I'm not."

The spectacled teen's lips twitched upward in one side, a lopsided smirk forming. "Why? So you can get me off your back and spy again?" Kei drawled, enjoying how her face's expression turned to a weary one. "You're impossible, Tsukishima-san."

Hearing their conversation, Yamaguchi couldn't help but frown. A spy? He thought, watching as the girl said one last thing to Kei before she left the classroom. He then began to approach the blond, smiling.

"Hey Tsukki." Yamaguchi greeted casually, "What did Murakami-san wanted?" He asked, admittedly curious.

Actually, everything about the blond's and ravenette's relationship piqued Yamaguchi's interest. He wanted to know why Yukio just appeared in their practice out of the blue and why Kei actually chased the ball for her.

He also heard from Noya and Tanaka that she and Kei were first spotted walking to school together. In fact, they were also spotted in the same set up today, too.

On one side, Yamaguchi felt a sting of betrayal; how come Kei never even mentioned anything to him? That he needed to know from other people that the two had walk to school together. On the other hand, he was glad Kei was being sociable. As sociable as he can actually get anyway.

Yamaguchi snapped out of his musings when Kei stood up, an amused smirk on his face. "It's nothing." The spectacled teen dismissed his friend's question easily. "Come on, I'm getting hungry."

* * *

Meanwhile, Yukio exited the room with a small pout on her lips and a frown on her face as she proceeded to go the cafeteria to eat. Not really wanting to go back upstairs soon and see the annoying blond's face, the ravenette opted to simply eat in the cafeteria for once instead of going back up immediately like usual.

 _He's too infuriating,_ she thought, the frown on her face getting deeper. Yukio prided herself of not being easily annoyed... kind of. The only thing she actually find impossibly infuriating is her brother, Ryuzaki Murakami. But this... this Tsukishima - how hard is it even to believe that she's not a spy? She's been patient enough about him ignoring her greetings with a very snobbish 'Tch' every morning, or him ignoring her in general really. And now he's throwing accuses that he obviously have no basis apart from her being an alumnus of Aoba Johsai back in middle school and that her brother was part of the baseball team.

She didn't even knew anyone from the volleyball club - Much less the highschool one!

... Or did she? She wasn't sure, Ryu has introduced her to random athletes from Aoba Johsai's highschool branch and she couldn't be bothered to remember what sport they played.

Sighing, Yukio placed her half-eaten chicken sandwich that she bought down on the table before fishing her cellphone from her pocket. All those thinking about her former school made her miss it.

The cellphone lit up to life as she flipped it open, swiftly entering her phone password before looking through the contacts until her light blue eyes landed on a certain name.

 _Kaoru Nakamura_

Her thumb expertly navigated across the keypad as she typed a text and hit send.

 _'I hate it hereeee. o(╥﹏╥)o'_

Not even a few minutes has passed when her phone buzzed once, indicating it was a text. A smile finally graced her lips for the first time for the day when she saw it was Kaoru who replied, opening it without a moment to waste.

' _What's the matter, Yuki-chan?'_

Sighing as she recalled the past recent events, Yukio typed in a reply.

' _There's this guy getting on my nerves_ _(ᗒᗣᗕ)՞' '_

 **BUZZ**

 _'Hohoho scouting for new guys already huh?_ _(^_−) atta gurl'_

Before she could start typing her reply, she received another text from her friend.

 _'Tell me everything about it kay? Meet me soon ~!'_

Just then, the school bell rang through out the entire school, indicating that lunch time was over.

Finding no reason to reply any further, Yukio slipped her phone back to her pocket, collected her half-eaten sandwich and disposed it in a trash bin as she made her way back to the classroom seeing little need for it as she already lost her appetite.

Once she arrived in the classroom, she noticed Kei looking at her, his teasing smirk forming once they made eye contact. Ignoring him, the girl went back to her sit, which was two chairs in front of the blond's, and sat down just in time as their professor entered. When the older man began to speak about his lesson, that's when she began to space out, drawing random doodles in her notebook.

When the class was nearing to the end, the teacher tried to call all of his students attention, announcing that they would have a group project. Various reactions could be heard: sighing, groaning, whining - basically any action that got the message across of how the students didn't like the idea.

"Now, now." The man had began, trying to silence the class. "You're in a college preparatory class - I'm sure a group project won't be that much of a problem."

There was yet again another collective groans.

"You can choose the member of your groups. It cannot be more than 3, though."

Just those words left his lips, it seemed like everyone of the decided to talk simultaneously, discussing who should and should not be with their group.

In all honesty, Yukio would've rather their teacher picking the groups for them - seeing as she has yet to have a 'friend' and it wasn't because she was anti-social or the sort, but because she truly did find it hard fitting in - which she found weird seeing as she had little to no trouble having friends back when she was in her old middle school - maybe she just needed time to warm up to the idea of Karasuno? It has only been a month after all and the move was sudden - all through out her middle school, she thought she'll be going to Aoba Johsai, too, like Ryu. Until rent became too much and they needed to move to be able to send both of them to private schools.

Her parent's won't admit it but she knew they're relieved that she didn't tried to push for Aoba Johsai - it was pricier than Karasuno after all.

Yukio's thoughts were disrupted when their teacher started to announce the groups. She wasn't bothered that she didn't have a group at the moment, the teacher would probably just shove her to a two-person group or someone else who didn't have one - no problem.

"Group 7... Hiiro Hideyoshi, Kozu Toichi, and Kagawa Yui... Group 8... Tadashi Yamaguchi, Kei Tsukishima..."

 _Well, no surprise there._ She thought, tapping her pencil on her notebook absentmindedly.

"and Yukio Murakami."

"What?!" She gasped, sitting up right. The teacher paused and her classmates turned their head to look at her. In return, she looked around, managing to get a glimpse of Kei's face that seemed perplexed as well. His lips were pressed into a thin line, eyes locking with his new found female group mate before looking away. Once they broke gazes, the two of them immediately tried to look for their third member only to find the timid boy out of sight.

Defeated, Yukio sank down on her seat, knowing arguing about it won't do any good. It's not like she has any other group to actually join anyway.

Meanwhile, Yamaguchi, who excused himself to the bathroom just before their group was announced, was walking through the corridor of the school, a knowing smile on his face.

* * *

 **Thanks for still reading guys. Again, this is my first series so bear with me, also reviews are very much appreciated. As well as suggestions! Tata~**


	5. Chapter 5

**OKAY. So I was supposed to upload this earlier. Like I typed half of it on my phone, transferred it to word, added more to the draft, played video games for a while aaaand the laptop updated and I couldn't recover my files. Lol. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy! R &Rs are welcome!**

* * *

"Why did you add her to the group?"

"Add who?"

"Tch. Don't play dumb, Yamaguchi." The blond huffed impatiently, taking a glance at the classroom's door before narrowing his eyes at his childhood friend.

He planned to ask him later before pratice but the dark haired girl excused herself to the bathroom while the professor of their next subject was still not around so he decided to ask Yamaguchi now.

He preferred to ask with the girl out of earshot, of course. Seeing her almost crying twice now already made him feel like he's an antagonist to the girl's happiness... Or something like that. He didn't know how to describe the feeling - all he knew he stomach would feel like it was in knots and that he found it hard to talk to her once he saw the tears welling up in her eyes.

His musing was cut off when Yamaguchi replied. "I thought she's our friend?" Kei's childhood friend replied innocently with a smile.

"Tch." Was all the blond could say as the girl entered the room. He went back to his desk, frowning and thinking since when did Yamaguchi actually viewed Yukio and him as friends? Did other people thought that as well? He needed to get that straight, Kei noted.

* * *

Classes has finally ended. Just wanting to rest, Yukio planned to go home straight away. She can talk to Yamaguchi and Kei about the project some other day, she reckoned.

Once she switched shoes and exited the building, she heard whispers from students - female students - that was gathering and whispering. She didn't paid much attention to it but she did get a few words out of the hushed conversations. Which were 'who', 'hot', and 'waiting'.What got her curious, however, was that they kept looking by the school's gate, she noted. Letting her nosiness get the better of her, she focused by the gate and saw a silhouette by it, standing. As she got nearer to the gate - and to the silhouette by extension - familiar glaring green eyes caught her light blue ones.

The gaze made her freeze in her steps, not because of the glare that she now realised was directed at her, but because she exactly knew who was the owner of the pair of eyes in question.

There, standing with all his glory, was her brother, his sun-kissed skin seemingly darker because of the setting sun. He was wearing his light colored uniform from Aoba Johsai - which made him stand out more as it contrasted the dark uniform of the males of Karasuno. His gym bag was slung over his shoulder and his varsity jacket was slung on top of the said bag.

"Ryu-nii?" She said weakly, her pale complexion even losing more color at the sight of her brother.

A perplexed frown formed on her face - something didn't add up. She and her brother had the same class dismissal and he also had practice, not to mention that his school was a bus and a train station away.

"Why are you here?" Yukio asked out of curiosity and not with a tone that would imply she doesn't wanted him there. "Rather," she added, " _How_ are you here?"

"Practice got cancelled." Ryu answered tersely, shrugging once before taking a step toward his sister.

"Liar." She deadpanned, crossing her arms against her chest. "You skipped class didn't you?" That was the only explanation she could think off as to how Ryu caught up with her.

"Doesn't matter." He dismissed easily as he took another step. "Where is he?" Ryu hissed.

"Who?" She knew exactly knew who though.

"Your boyfriend."

"I don't have a boyfriend, Ryu." She replied, exasperated. "Let's just go home."

Her brother's attention wasn't with her anymore, however.

"You!" The older Murakami suddenly bellowed, stomping away from Yukio and to the building that was left from her perspective. Confused, the girl followed her brother's line of sight, tilting her head once her gaze landed on a couple of boys a few feet away from them.

Her bright eyes widened in recognition when she had realized that those men were part of the Karasuno's male volleyball team. Tanaka, Kageyama, Hinata, Sugawara, Yamaguchi, Asahi, Noya, and... Kei, she counted. Thankfully, the team had yet to notice her fuming brother that was going to their direction. They were walking to the gym, all geared up. She still had time to stop her brother.

"Ryuzaki!" She called, using his whole name in hopes to bring back the older male's attention to her... which was futile. The baseball player's pace was gaining speed as he tried to catch up with the volleyball team.

"Oi, blondie!" He shouted. By this time Yukio was also breaking into a small jog, trying to catch up with Ryu's long strides. "You over there with the glasses!"

That seemed to catch the attention of the group as the youngest Murakami watched in horror as the boys simultaneously turned their heads to the owner of the voice, all of their expressions curious save for one; Kei's eyes widened for a moment when he recognized the man going towards them before his face morphed back into it's usual uncaring mask.

Hinata was first to speak, the girl behind the stranger not going unnoticed by the orange ball of energy. "Is that Yuki-chan?" He asked loudly as he bought a hand up to point at the pale girl behind the tanned man. The question got the receiving end of Ryu's glare as a reply, not liking that someone just called his sister by her first name, and so casually, too.

The poor boy let out a small 'eek' before pathetically hiding behind the person nearest to him, which was Kageyama... Well the second closest. It was actually Kei the first but remembering at the last minute that the (now scary) stranger was targeting the blond before him, he decided against it.

"H-he's glaring at me!" Hinata squeaked behind the first-year setter.

"Of course he is." Kei said, his eyes not leaving the man approaching them

"Is that Murakami-san's boyfriend?" Tanaka piped in.

Asahi, the gentle giant, took a step back with an unreadable expression. "Oh no. I talked to Murakami-san the other day. What have I done?!" The ace hung his head low as if shame. "Calm down, Asahi-san." Noya comforted, patting the back of his good friend gently. "He said blondie. I'm sure it's Tuskishima he's after..." The libero paused, glancing at the still cowering Hinata, watching as Kageyama tried to shoo him away from behind him but to no avail. "And probably Hinata now, too."

Seeing that the stranger was simply a few steps away from them, the group got silent, watching the new comer carefully. Ryu stopped in front of Kei, looking at him from head to toe like he's sizing him up. The male blue hair was shorted than the blond by a couple of inches, which was quite obvious when he stood straight like he was trying to match his height. "You," Ryu growled.

"Ryu," Yukio's voice sliced through the thick silence that was forming, her voice demanding yet soft. "Let's go, please."

Her plea was ignored, the older sibling not even sparing her a glance.

"Oi, Murakami." Came Kei's voice. "Call your guard dog off."

The siblings were aware which one of them was being addressed despite the fact that neither guys broke eye contact.

"You're not helping," Yukio sighed as she heard her brother growl once more.

Tanaka, who was feeling protective of underclass man - not that he was going to admit that though - stepped up to them, his punk face on.

"What do you want, huh?"

Green eyes glanced at the spiker for a moment before back at Kei. "This is between him and me." Ryu said, his voice calm. Tanaka, now irked at being ignored and now considering it as his pride at steak and not just his younger teammate, was about to cut in once more when a hand on his shoulder stop him. Blinking, he turned around to see Sugawara shaking his head 'no' and leaving no choice to Tanaka to just watch the scene unfold like the rest of them.

"The cut on her lip." The baseball player began. "Are you the cause of it?"

"If you're looking for the culprit, he's right over there." The spectacled teen waved a hand lazily in Hinata's direction who has still not left Kageyama's side.

"I-it was an accident! I swear!" The orange decoy said in defense.

 _Accident?_ Ryu thought, a frown on his face. "Are you telling me you accidentally kissed Yuki and wounded her lips in the process or you kissed her _then_ accidentally cutting her?" He asked incredulously, his tone laced with a tone that sounded like he was offended.

At this question, Hinata's face turned bright red that it was competing with the vibrant of his own hair. Yukio's face was flushed as well, not as worse as Hinata, but her pale complexion made the blood rushing to her face more easy to see due to the contrast. Ryu turned his head to his sister's direction, wanting an explanation. "He tried to save a ball hitting me." She mumbled sheepishly, now trying to hide against the stares the team was giving her by taking a step behind Ryu.

"A ball?" That's the only time when the older sibling realized that the group of boys were wearing volleyball jerseys. _That explains why he's always early by our house,_ he thought, focusing at Hinata now who's knees were shaking.

"Thank you."Ryu said, bowing slightly to the cowering decoy's. "For saving Yuki."

"Now. Back to you, blondie." His green eyes narrowed dangerously back at Kei. By that time, Daichi was wondering where the rest of his team were and is now by the gym door, watching and ready to defend his team if he so needs to - beside him, both coach and faculty adviser stood too, curious why the captain suddenly lingered by the door. "A-are they fighting? Shouldn't we do something?" Takeda, the teacher, mumbled in panic to Ukai who didn't said anything in reply.

Sugawara was about to step in and try to handle the situation when the varsity of Aoba Johsai beat him to saying something first.

"You made Yuki cry, didn't you?" His words came out as a hiss. Aside from Yukio, who was tugging on his brother's uniform while continuously mumbling to go back home, all pairs of eyes fell on the blond who only said "Tch."

"I saw you two, last friday." Ryu continued when realized that Kei didn't have anything to say. "You were by our street, talking, before Yukio ran back home and you proceeded on your way. When I came home, I saw Yuki's eyes all red and puffy - would've left you alone if not for the fact that you showed by earlier this morning again like nothing happened. Hell, you didn't even look apologetic!"

"Ryu let's just go!" The usual timid girl stepped in between the boys, her back facing Kei, who's face was now in a scowl. The siblings got into a mini stare off before Ryu broke the eye contact in defeat as he looked at the blond now behind his sister. "Make her cry again and you're dead, got it?" His green eyes softened when he looked at his sister. "C'mon, Yuki." Without another word, he turned around began to walk away. Yukio stayed for a while however, back in her shell. She kept on apologizing again to Kei, much like when he tried to save her from the ball back then, then apologized once to the whole team for being a bother before catching up with her brother.

"What... What just happened...?" It was Hinata who asked, finally able to step away from his hiding place know as Kageyama. "Tsukishima made a girl cry." Kageyama answered, snorting. "Way to go, 'blondie'."

"Ohhh. You pissed of Murakami's boyfriend!" This time it way Noya who was snickering.

Kei, who refused to lose his cool, simply sighed. "That was her brother." He explained, adjusting his glasses, trying to hide his scowl. He knew it, he shouldn't have went to the girl's house in the first place. Why did he do it anyway? _To return the clothes, of course._ Kei thought, as if trying to convince his own self.

Deep down, he knew that was a lie. He could've return the bag of clothes at school, he didn't have to go to the trouble of going to her directly.

 _I just don't want to carry that stupid paper bag longer._

"Back to gym, everybody!" Daichi's voice rang out, clapping his hands loudly to get his teammates attention. "Let's begin warm up!" The captain looked at the tall blond once. "An extra five of everything for Tsukishima since he made Murakami cry, it seems."

Snickers from Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka and Noya were all heard in the background.

Kei didn't react - he kept his passive face, his thoughts still trying to convince him the reasons for his actions.

"Actually, make that 10." Ukai added. "I believe I told him to walk the girl home, not bully her at home."

The snickers from the four got louder. The blond ignored them though.

Deep down, he knew he was trying to check up on her early morning. The guilt of seeing her eyes welling up tears haunting him Friday night until Monday morning.

A scowl made it's way to his face at the thought of him actually guilty. Of course he wasn't guilty. Why would he be?

A "Tch" escaped his lips as he made his way to the gym knowing that this practice would be hellish than usual.


	6. Chapter 6

It has almost been a week since the scene that her beloved brother had caused. She had deliberately ignored him for almost two days until he cooked her favourite ramen and bought her the ice cream she has always loved before she finally agreed to talk to him.

Yukio has also avoided most of the volleyball team - especially Kei. This time, the reason she was avoiding him was not because she was pissed about his whole accusation but it was because she literally didn't knew how to face the blond. Her brother caused quite a commotion; marching out of the blue and accusing him offhandedly (Thought the same can be said for Kei). For her, no amount of apologizing can make up for it. Although, maybe she could talk to Yamaguchi, especially about their grouping. The teacher had reminded the class yesterday that they only had a week left to pass their project; he also informed them that their groupings was good for the year.

The project was ridiculous, Yukio thought. She didn't knew they still did those kind of things in highschool. He wanted them to make a solar system out of recycled materials - _a solar system_. The worse part is, it seems like she should expect most, or all rather, of the projects to be like those - a home made volcano, the earth and it's parts - and so on. The figured she can just talk to Yamaguchi and then he can talk to Kei. That would work, Yamaguchi was a kind soul compared to his friend anyway. Little did she know, however, that the same 'kind soul' was set on trying to make the two friends. When lunch came that day, Yukio readied her things and what to say when she faced Yamaguchi. She was going to ask for a part on the project without meeting Kei directly - she also needed for Yamaguchi to be alone. Easier said than done.

"Hey," A voice snapped the girl out of her thoughts. Recognizing the voice, she tensed, straightened her posture from where she sat and looked at the owner of the voice, her eyes widening slightly when she saw... A torso? Looking up, and up, and up, her eyes finally fell on the blond boy's face that she was least expecting to approach her. He was standing a few steps from her desk, his face turned to the other side like he refuses to met her eye to eye... Which, if we're being honest, he could just look a head and he'll _still_ miss her eyes big time.

"Tsukishima-san?" She mumble weakly, blinking several times thinking maybe if she blinked enough times it will show her the reality that Kei isn't really there. It didn't work.

"Yeah, Yamaguchi wants to talk about the project." Kei started, his voice casual. Distant. His face was his usual expression, although, now that Yukio could watch him closely, it looks like his lips were threatening to pull down. Like he was trying to suppress a frown.

Which he was. Kei didn't know why he was the one to talk to her. Yamaguchi insisted - something about him being worried about her. Whatever he meant. The team was also bothering him about her - asking if he had already said sorry to Yukio for making her cry. Apparently, apart from him and Yamaguchi that was her classmates, no one had seen the blue haired girl after that incident with her brother. Which bothered them because they thought he threatened her again - Ukkai even went far as saying he needs to bring her to practice again to convince the team that the 'poor' girl was okay and that he had reconciled with her.

At the first two days, Kei didn't pay mind to them. It was his teammates after all, this was nothing compared to their other antics but once the coach joined in and the fourth day came, the blond became slowly annoyed until he realised that he rather talk to Yukio to come with him than be stuck with them questioning him for who knows how long.

...Okay, so maybe he was a _tad_ bit grateful that Yamaguchi forced him to talk to the girl as this now became a reason to start a conversation, thus making him a step closer to bringing her to practice for a day and be done with all this girl-involved nonsense. But that doesn't mean he has to like it, right? And he didn't.

Yukio's face flushed, casting her eyes down. "O- oh. Yes. Of course."

 _Great,_ she thought, _now they probably think I'm a useless group mate and Yamaguchi-san probably regret writing me down as one._ If he was the one who wrote her down - she can't really picture Kei writing her down as a group mate. Or writing anything down that Yamaguchi can't write down for him. "So,"she tried again once she had calmed her self down. "When does he want to talk about it?" Yukio looked up, and this time, his eyes were on her.

The spectacled teen gave her an uncaring shrug. "Well, we have practice today." His honey-brown eyes didn't left her bright blue ones this time, which made her relieved. It means Kei wasn't _that_ angry at her that he's still willing to look her in the eye - for one minute there, the ravenette actually thought he was angry enough that just glancing down her face pissed him off.

"I have club activities tomorrow." She informed him, tilting her head slightly. "I think I can do everything before Saturday, though. Are you guys free then?" Yukio watch as Kei's scrunched up for a while before sighing. "Practice." He didn't elaborate further - he didn't needed to anyway. Instead, the blond looked away once more, a soft sigh leaving his lips.

"That's the thing," He mumbled so softly that Yukio wouldn't have caught if she had not been listening carefully. "Yamaguchi thought we can meet in a cafe nearby on sunday? The one when you continue down the road..." Kei continued to explain, his attention now back to his classmate, only to see that her expression was getting more confused by the second. At the back of his head, he remembered that at the first day of class, she told them she just moved to the town a few days before school started - that's when he realized that explaining further would be futile and it might be easier just showing her instead.

"Never mind," he sighed. "I'll pick you up, we can just walk there - we're going to take the same road after all."

Yukio's fell unusually silent and looked like she was having an internal battle with herself. Kei rose a slender brow to her direction before the reason dawned upon him. "Ah." Unconsciously, the boy was getting comfortable with their small conversation. He sat on the edge of the free desk behind him, his body now lax. Even the girl before him who was sitting up right and tense seemed more relax compared to when they have started. "Your brother?" He guessed.

Kei watched the girl nod sheepishly, looking away. Pondering for a moment, he volleyball player raised a lazy hand and pulled a black phone from his uniform pocket, flipping it open. "Your number?" He asked in a bored tone, his eyes on the phone. Yukio's reaction, however, was in contrast to the boy's attitude. Her face flushed, she began to fidget, her eyes casting down on the floor and back to the blond several times enough that he noticed the silence.

He took a peek from his phone, seeing how she was acting. " _What_ are you doing, Murakami?"

Her response? A small squeak.

Kei blinked once, twice, before his familiar smirk was back in place. "What? Never had a guy ask your number before?" The blonde teased, his smirk only getting wider as girl glared weakly at him which he only shook his head at. "Don't be silly. I need your number so I can text you when I'm by your street."

"By my street?"

"I thought you didn't want your brother to see me?" He questioned before offering her his phone. "Here, type it in." She took the phone with great care - wouldn't want another reason to make him hate her - before typing her number and giving it back to him right after. Yukio watched as Kei took his phone back, typed in a couple of things and at the exact same time he snapped his phone shut, her ringtone started playing.

... Which was the opening of Sailor Moon.

Yukio's eyes widened as she quickly scrambled to get her phone - she forgot to put it on silent, it seems. The singing hasn't started yet when she opened the phone to stop the music but apparently her group mate recognizes it anyway since when she looked up to see Kei's reaction, she saw him pressing the back of his hand to his lips to suppress a smile before coughing that sounded more of a chuckle.

The ringtone was supposed to be a joke, not that the blond would know. Sure it was one of her favorite back when she was a child but every time someone texted her while at home - which was barely - Ryu always sung to it so she simply kept using it after all those years despite changing phones several times already.

She wanted to defend herself, saying her brother sings it when it rings or that her brother changed it as a prank but simply went against the idea and read the text instead. It was an unknown number while the message simply said _Save my number._

 _This is his fault._ She thought, pouting as she saved the number under his name.

"Later." She heard him say while she was typing on her phone. She glanced at the clock and only then did she realized that they had been talking for half of lunch period. Thankfully, she bought a food with her this time - her mother always packed lunch when she woke up extra early.

She looked up to say goodbye only to see the tall, blond boy's retreating back, already at the door. She sighed, internally commending herself for surviving one whole conversation with the infamous Tuskishima Kei, before taking out her neatly packed lunch to eat, as well as her boxed juice.

Meanwhile, the one who planned the whole thing - well not the _whole_ thing, but the thing anyway - was lurking by the doors, watching the whole scene unfold before he had to leave when Kei finally got from the desk. Realizing he had no time to leave properly without rushing and risking Kei seeing him - he pretended to just have arrived instead, going back to the classroom. Which was a good call since the blond appeared out the door the minute he decided to act innocent.

"Hey, Yamaguchi." The blond greeted boredly, passing him to, presumably, buy his lunch.

When the green head entered, his eyes immediately met with Yukio's, who smiled and did a small bow before proceeding to unpack her lunch.

Just when she was about to pick her chopsticks up, her phone - that was now under her desk _and_ in silent (she triple checked) - buzzed. She picked it up quickly, a bit bummed she was stopped from eating since she now only realized how hungry she is when the aroma of her food danced underneath her nose. Yukio unlocked the phone, saw a new text and huffed childishly when she read it.

There, before her eyes, was a single text from her new contact.

What it read?

 _Nice ringtone, Sailor Moon._

* * *

 **A/N: It seems Yamaguchi has been doing a lot of planning lately. Lol.**

 **Hi guys! Here's an early chapter with just Yuki and Kei in it. Lol. Sorry. Anyway, I kinda released the chapter early since I want to get my thesis draft done by this week so I just wrote this one first to cross it off my list (also to procrastinate). And yeah, I picked Sailor Moon because it was the first thing I could think off that didn't seem out of place? I don't even know.**

 **ALSO. Thank you, thank you for the review guys! I'm glad you guys like it, I'll try to keep up! Of course, a big warm and thanks to those who mark this as a favorite and put it in their follow list~ I'm so very grateful. Anyway, reviews are always welcome! (More than, really) And another thanks if you're still here reading the story, and my dragging note. Tata~**


	7. Chapter 7

She wasn't sure how many hours has it been after class – has it even been hours? It seems the blue haired girl has lost her bearings of time. All she knew is the sun was setting as she could see from the window, the orange hues seeping from the glass and lighting the table in front of her; atop the table in question where assortment of books, magazines, scraps of paper, and the like. Her club activities was suddenly cancelled out of the blue so Yukio just decided to spend her free time in the public library which was gratefully close to Karasuno, just a couple of blocks away, accidentally making the discovery when Ryu and she decided to walk around the town before classes starts to at least make the younger Murakami familiar of her surroundings and it was also a way for her brother to check if there were spots in town he needed to make sure his sister avoided. He was, after all, protective of his only sibling in spite of personally bullying and teasing her if he should feel like it.

Her eyes scanned the table she and her items single-handedly occupied, bright orbs becoming dull as weary reflected on them as she assessed the mess before her. There were materials for literature, craft, science, and who know what else she might've grabbed.

Her expression morphed into distraught when her eyes finally landed on the notebook that were wide open directly before her, its pages hauntingly empty as her pencil lay beside it just waiting to be picked and used. The only comforting thought that she's hanging on to is the fact that at least the not _all_ of the pages were empty. Her club – well clubs seeing as the two merged to save both clubs from shutting down – wanted for the first year members to pass original writings made by themselves, a poem, a story, or write an article like they were about to publish it to the newspaper. And she already had written a poem, something simple, and not really worth mentioning if she was to be honest so she wanted to at least have something else to submit aside from her attempt at poetry.

And so, she was left with her current predicament. Given no particular theme by their club president, Yukio was left to ponder on her own on what to write.

An image of her brother's face when she told her about her club flashed in her mind – it was a look that somewhat fell in between a confused and a disappointed one – asking her why she joined the club she's currently in and not one that was similar to the club she was in back in junior high.

With that in her mind, Yukio reluctantly picked her pencil up, sighing. Should she not write an article after all? Just pass the poem and let them do whatever they want with it?

In the corner of her eye, she noticed a magazine that stood out amongst all her materials; _SPORTS_ it read, printed in the glossy leaves of the magazine. Apparently, she had picked that as a mistake, having no recollection of ever taking it from the magazine rack. Tilting her head slightly, she stared at it for a while, contemplating.

"Maybe I should write about sports…" Yukio mumbled underneath her breath, reaching over to take the magazine and observe it much closer. As she flipped through the pages, skimming the texts, she landed on a page focusing on volleyball; the sport made her remember a certain player, her face becoming flushed in the recollection of what had happened earlier.

Just after class ended, when she found out that the club was cancelled, she went to the school's library first to return a book. As she exited the room, she bumped into someone. The sudden impact made her lose her balance, landing rather ungracefully on the floor on her behind. Now, normally, Yukio would just say sorry a couple of times before scurrying away - except the one that she bumped into was Nishinoya. The small, energetic libero that Kei had accused her of dating. After what happened the other week, the girl never had a chance to talk to Noya alone, much less speak with him.

She remembered her friends from junior high once again, crying because they have been rejected when they confessed to those they fancy; and not just her friends - some days, most especially on valentines, she would see students confessing, being reject, and then running away whilst crying. Fortunately for her, she had never been confessed to before, a love letter dropped on her locker anonymously perhaps, but never a confession. And she would rather keep it that way. So when she heard Noya calling her and extending a hand to help her (he didn't got knocked off from the impact), Yukio quite literally crawled away from him, clumsily got on her feet, and ran. Of course, the libero was taking none of this and chased after her.

To make the story short, the athlete caught up with her not even a minute after she had started running, cornered her (with Noya trying her best to calm her down and not to make her cry because then he won't be any better than Kei), and she ended up fessing everything up.

Feeling rather self-important and conceited on her assumption, Yukio buried her face between the leaves of the magazine as she took a deep breath to calm herself - smelling the magazine by extension. At this point, she was pretty sure her whole face is read, up to the tips of her ears. Just when she and Kei has spoken again did she had another person to avoid with shame.

"Murakami-san?"

A deep, smooth yet somehow reluctant voice pulled her away from her thoughts. Slowly, Yukio slid the magazine down until only half her face was being covered. She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, only to lock gazes with kind brown eyes. Her eyes widened by a fraction, sliding the magazine away from her face completely this time as her mouth does a small shaped 'o'.

"Azumane-senpai!" The girl claimed, staring at the teen standing in between bookshelves that was a several steps away from her left - he was still in his school uniform like she was, several tomes in his arms. Asahi blinked, wondering when she had picked the 'Azumane' when she called him Asahi back then.

"Azumane?" He voiced out, his tone inquiring. With this, a sheepish grin on Yukio's lips surfaced. "I realized I called you by your first name before. Sorry about that, senpai." She dipped her head slightly in a small bow as she continued to explain, "It's just every one was calling you by it so I unconsciously said it, too." Asahi began to walk to her direction before stopping by the table beside her. He set his books there before flashing her a warm smile "You can call me Asahi, everyone else does." He reassured her as he took a seat. As he was arranging his items, which were three books at most, the brunette glanced at her table and blinked at the mess. "Wow. Uh, are you reading all of that?" He asked as he gestured to the heaps of resources. The bluette blinked, feeling blood rush to her face. "Oh, it's for club." She explained sheepishly, "I want to finish it today so I can start on my other project."

With a smile, the brunette wished her luck before doing his own business. Yukio didn't want to bother him, of course, but the female was curious by nature so she tried to peek on his table as much as she could without him noticing her actions. Her eyes widened by a fraction as she saw what the athlete was reading, realizing it was far more advanced than hers was. It was then that she remembered that Asahi was in fact a third year; she saw him so much with Nishinoya that she had assumed he and Noya were at the same year despite his mature looks.

 _Focus, Yuki._ She thought before continuing her work. She decided to write an article for her club - it was about baseball as she had basic knowledge about it thanks to her older brother. Once done, she proceeded to research about crafts and artworks, determined to let Kei and Yamaguchi know that she was not useless as a group mate and was actually worth it. She read one magazine to another for notes, jotting it on her notebook. The female did not know how much time had passed since then but her thought were broken when she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind.

Surprised by the sudden contact, Yukio couldn't help but squeak, her body tensing as she whipped her head back to see who it was. There, she saw Asahi with both of his hand up above his head and an apologetic expression painted across his face. "I-i'm sorry!" He gasped, seemingly just as surprised as her. "I didn't mean to!" Seeing the gentle giant, Yukio's body went lax, a relieved sigh escaping her lips quietly before she blinked up at him curiously. "Oh. Is there anything you need senpai?"

"The library is about to close," He informed her, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly before nodding to the direction of the librarian, who you can see through one of the aisle, looking at them with what she think is a glare. Bright orbs widened as she immediately shot up to her feet, gathering all the materials she could in her arms. Seeing the girl struggle to put the things away, Asahi decided to help, making sure he took the heavy looking books. He had already placed his things back before he had informed her so he was free to help her should he wish.

"Senpai!" Yukio noticed. "You don't have to!"

For some reason, Asahi thought her frantic actions were amusing. Letting out a low chuckle, he shook his head before plucking a book from her arm that looked thick, as if to further prove that it was indeed no problem. His actions made the blue haired girl blush, looking away from him. Inhaling deeply to gather her composure, Yukio began to tell him where to put back what until they were finally done and nothing aside from her personal notebook was left in the heap of mess that she had made earlier. Satisfied, Yukio put the remainder of her things away before sliding her bag to her shoulders, pivoting around her heel only to face Asahi once more. "Let's go!"

As the two students made their way to the door, Yukio felt a vibration from her bag. Carefully, she took the bag off her shoulder and fished her phone from inside it, paling considerably once she checked her phone. The screen flashed that she had seven missed calls from none other than her brother, Ryuzaki. Before she could even start to text him, the screen changed into prompt that said Ryu was calling her once more, the phone vibrating in her hands.

Stopping on her tracks, she answered the call, pressing the phone on her ears. "Hey, Ryu-nii." She cringed, hearing the pissed tone of the older Murakami on the other line.

"I'm sorry! My phone was on silent..." ... "I'm in the library, the one near Karasuno." ... "I'm okay, Nii-san. You don't have to pick me up." ... "I know, I'm sorry. I'll be home in a while. Bye."

Ending the call, she noticed that Asahi was by the door, waiting for her. She was about to say something but heard the librarian in the background about how they should really leave, and so Yukio half-jogged to the exit, the ace pushing the door open for her, following suite when she was outside. When the door closed, the bluette smiled up at him, "You didn't have to wait for me, Senpai." However, instead of being in the receiving end of his usually warm smiles, the female was met with silence.

Asahi was looking around nervously, his eyebrows knit into a frown like he was in an internal battle - which he was. While Yukio was on the phone, the ace had checked the time and there was only twenty minutes left until it was nine o'clock, probably less now. Technically, walking the female home was the right thing to do. On the other hand, just thinking how her brother will react seeing him made him weak in the knees. However, when his eyes landed on the blue haired girl - who looked significantly more fragile beside someone as big as him - he didn't have the heart to let her wander through the night alone. There she was, staring at him with innocent blue eyes that had a tinge of worry in them while she waited patiently for his reply still.

She was easy prey.

He wasn't though. In fact, he looked more like the one looking for prey. Sure he wasn't the most toughest guys despite what his appearance suggests, but people didn't need to know that - he knew just his presence around the girl would be enough to scare potential creepers.

Inhaling deeply, Asahi has decided that he should walk her home. He tried to mustered up his courage as he faced the bluette. "M-murakami-san?" The brunette started, already feeling the blood rush to his cheeks and to the tips of his ears. Yukio simply tilted her head in response, waiting for him to continue.

"I - I - I'll w-w-wo-w - argh - I'llwalkyouhome!" The ace blurted, gasping as he tried to catch his breath. How did guys even ask girls to walk them home casually, Asahi thought, this was his first time trying to ask someone and it felt like he wasted all of his oxygen supply just trying to get that one sentence out.

He watched as a frown formed on her face making his stomach drop. In reality, the female was frowning because she was trying to register what the athlete had just said. Once she did, her frown disappeared and was replaced by a reassuring smile. "You don't have to, senpai." As soon as those words left her mouth, Yukio was met with a weary stare from Asahi, as if he's trying to say 'please don't make me repeat that again'. Understanding him, a genuine smile now on her lips. "Alright," She said, a small grin now replacing the smile.

* * *

The walk home was silent, a comfortable one. Well it was comfortable for her - for Asahi? Not so much. With every step that he took, the feeling of dread grew stronger. He would enjoy walking the female and would find the silence relaxing as well if only he wasn't aware that the very girl he was walking has a brother that isn't afraid to march into unknown territory in order to threaten a guy who made her cry.

He blinked, once, twice. Only then did he remembered that Tsukishima Kei supposedly made the bluette cry. It was still the topic of club before and after practice started but somehow the ace had forgotten all about it. He was curious, however - he never pictured the tall blonde to make someone cry; he might have been a prick to everyone else but imaging the spectacled teen making a female cry on purpose seemed so... uncharacteristic of him.

"Uhm," For the first time since they had began to walk, the silence was disrupted. "Did... Did Tsukishima really made you cry?" The question made Yukio's pace slow down a bit. They were so near to her house, she was hoping he wouldn't ask about that. Kei, Yamaguchi, and Noya all didn't, so she expected Asahi to not, too.

All they needed to do was pass the intersection - which they were about to - take a left at the next street, and viola, they were there. Walk over. But no, Asahi just _had_ to remember that, it seems.

Hesitating, Yukio was about to answer when a voice that belonged to neither of the pair interrupted her - she was sure that the voice wasn't the ace's yet it was familiar... _too_ familar.

"Oho? Asahi-senpai, huh?"

The bluette's head snapped to the direction of the voice so fast she's surprised she didn't got hurt. There, at the street they were about to enter after the intersection, stood a blond with his signature smirk in place. He was wearing a simple white shirt, shorts that fell to his knee and his headphones around his neck.

"Tsukishima?" Asahi blinked, not really realizing that his teammate actually lived around the area. The brunette glanced at the female beside him before back to the blond, flushed. "It's not what you think!" He exclaimed despite not being accused of anything just yet. Kei simply chuckled before turning right, walking away from them. Yukio watched him, silently wondering why he was out.

"Be careful of her brother, senpai." He drawled the last words in a teasing matter, laughter dancing in his voice.

Asahi could feel the strength leaving him because of his lowerclassman words. He took a deep breath before forcing himself to continue to where Yukio was leading them. Once they reached a corner of a street, the female stopped walking and turned to him. She must've felt fear emitting from him, Asahi thought.

"My home is just the second one from here, senpai. I'll be fine now." Yukio did a small bow before smiling brightly at him. "Thank you very much, Azumane-senpai."

Asahi bought a large hand behind his nape, rubbing it awkwardly as he smiled sheepishly. "It was nothing, Murakami-san. At least now I'm sure you'll arrive at home safe." He admitted. The female seemed to have misunderstood the context wholly as she felt her heart skip a beat, her cheeks now bright red as she stared at the man that she now looked at admiration.

* * *

In a convenience store near by, Kei wore a frown as he bought thing his mother had wanted. He wasn't frowning because he was running an errand, though - far from it. He was frowning because he was confused, perplexed, puzzled, not knowing what to do of his thoughts.

Because when he bid his fellow volleyball player earlier good luck, did he realize he actually wished Ryu would see the two and scare the ace away.

And he didn't knew why.

* * *

 **A/N: Okaaaay. I just want to apologize if Asahi is totally OOC here. Anyway, here's the new chapter. I realized it's a bit dragging so sorry about that. Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Looks like Yuki's heart is beating for the wrong player though, lol.**

 **Reviews are always welcome! And if you do/did drop one, I'll love you forever!**

 **Till the next chapter! Tata~**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This chapter isn't my best work in my opinion but I still hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless! I've been struggling with writer's block for the past days and just seem to be always unsatisfied with what I write for this chapter. Lol. I promise to (try) and make the next chapter better, but for now, here's chapter 8! As always - reviews, comments, and even suggestions are always welcome!**

* * *

Sunday finally came - and Yukio? Yukio was nervous, constantly checking her reflection. She admits that it was stupid to be - foolish, really. It's not like she was going to a date of sorts; far from it, actually. She was just going to meet up with her group mates in a cafe to do a project for school - perfectly normal. Kei was just nice enough to show her how to get to the said cafe. He wasn't going out of the way or anything, they were going down the same route anyway.

Yukio made sure all of her things were ready, which is mostly a simple denim blue messenger bag that was just big enough to fit her notebook inside including a pen or two and her wallet. Just after she had double-checked her belongings, the first few notes of the Sailor Moon theme rang out. It was probably Kei, he had texted earlier to inform her he'll arrive by her street in a few minutes after all.

Reaching for her phone from the bedroom vanity, the female's assumption was soon proved correct when she flipped the still singing phone open and pressed the 'read' that made the song halt.

 _ **I don't like waiting**_

 _What a peculiar way to announce his arrival_ , Yukio thought with a small smile as she closed the phone and stashed it inside her bag along with the rest of her items. Unable to resist, the bluette checked her reflection one last time, seemingly satisfied with her attire. She wore a fitting light grey shirt with sleeves just long enough to rest on the half of her forearm - it hugged her body quite nicely - her body that was more skinny than fit because of the lack of exercise. She partnered this with jeans that fitted her nicely, not too tight yet not too loose, along with black flats. She pondered for a moment if she should take a jacket with and perhaps an umbrella - the weather was unpredictable lately - it sometimes rained, some nights it got especially chilly, yet some days were just...right.

Deciding against it, she nodded at her reflection before rushing downstairs.

"I'm going!" Yukio called out to her family once she was down. She could hear her mother's voice from the kitchen bidding her farewell as well as footsteps behind her that sounded like it was descending the stairs. Peering over her shoulders, she saw Ryu in his home clothes walking down towards her, "I'll see you off." He grunted with a small pout - the older sibling still didn't believe his sister didn't have a boyfriend while also unable to wrap the idea of her having one so he was acting more like a 'protective' brother than he usually does.

Yukio blinked up at her brother, tilting her head. "'Til where?" She asked, silently hoping Kei wasn't just outside the door or that Ryu won't insist going out of the house. In response, the baseball player raised a brow, stopping beside her for a moment when he reached the end of the stairs. "To the door, silly." He nodded his head to the direction of the door before beginning to walk to it without her. "Hurry up. Don't want to be late for your date." He mumbled bitterly, opening the door and watching as his sister stops short of the exit, facing him but without stealing a glance outside first.

Kei wasn't in sight. Smart boy.

"It's not a date!" She huffed, getting tired of how her brother was acting this past few days. Ryu rolled his green orbs at her. "Right." He said with a tone that made it obvious to tell that he was not buying it. The older Murakami lifted a hand, reaching over to the bluette as he pats her head with every words he spoke.

"Don't stay out too late."

"I won't."

"Text me hourly updates."

"Are you even serious right now?"

"Don't also talk to strangers."

"Stop, pl-"

"Call me if you need me"

"Will -"

"Definitely no sex."

Yukio, who finally had enough, pushed her brother's hand away from her before trying to fix her hair. "I'm going." The female didn't wait for any response from Ryu any longer, exiting the house with small stomps of annoyance, pushing the gate open and purposely leaving it ajar so her brother needs to close it himself. It was a small gesture, but it felt satisfying to know he needed to exert extra effort just to close the gate.

Momentarily forgetting all about the person she was supposed to meet, Yukio continued to walk down the street until light colored hair caught her attention. Kei was standing by a post near her house, but not near enough to be easily seen, a frown on his face. He was wearing a dark blue shirt underneath his varsity jacket along with dark jeans and sneakers and his headphones were placed on his ears, dressed like he just had gotten out of school in a Sunday.

Also catching sight of the blue haired girl, Kei's frown subsided for a moment once he got a good look of her. And the first thing that crossed his head - although in no world would he admit this out loud - was her clothes suit her. Quickly, the blond shook these thoughts out of his head, trying to convince himself that the only reason the idea surfaced to begin with was because this was his first time seeing her outside the school uniform - of course she'll look different.

Plus, he already admitted to himself that Yukio was attractive compared to most of his classmates, or the Karasuno's female student body at that. Was she the most attractive? No. Average? Probably. Was Kei using her as a mean to measure who was attractive and who was not? Yes - but he didn't had any female friends apart from her if he didn't count the club's manager.

 _Acquaintance._ He chided mentally to himself. _Not friends._

"Tsukishima-san?" The blue haired called softly, tilting her head at Kei when he didn't said anything after a while of her just standing there - he just stared. The blond blinked, removing his headphones from his ears and placing them around his neck, a scowl returning back to his face. "Took you long enough." He grumbled, starting to walk down the street without much of a second glance to her. Yukio followed him, trying her to keep up with his long strides. "I'm sorry. Ryu-nii was being…" A pause. " Well, was being himself." Kei ignored her and continued on, silently finding amusement on how the bluette was having a hard time catching up.

It was until he heard small pants from behind him did he stop in his steps for a while to glance at his companion - whose face was flushed and breaths heavy. That familiar yet annoying pang on the gut whenever the bluette was seemingly suffering because of him had made itself felt again.

Damn her for making him feel those foreign things.

"Tch." He faced forward once more, scowling more to himself than to her. "Keep up, shorty." The blonde mumbled as he began to walk once more, but this time, his steps were significantly slower, taking consideration for his classmate. Because of the change of pace, Yukio had no trouble being to match with him, even going as far as walking beside him.

"Thank you." The female wasn't sure if he slowed his strides on purpose for her but decided to thank him anyways, looking down at the concrete with a small blush as she did so. "Tch." The blonde replaced his headphones on his ears, pulling out his phone to press play. "Whatever." He muttered as the song's melody began to float in his ears.

Yukio, who didn't mind Kei basically blocking her out and simply paid extra attention to the path they were taking, noticed that the cafe was relatively close - a little out of ways to Karasuno but still close. She blinked, looking at the entrance with recognition. She had been there, she realised; or rather, she once passed by it - the same day when she discovered the public library: through the walk with Ryu. Kei was already by the door, about to push it open when he realised that the girl wasn't beside him anymore. He tilted his head back just enough to look at her, raising a brow as he removed his headphones from his ear and let it sit on his shoulders, around his neck..

"You coming?" The blond asked, pushing the door slightly. The bluette was snapped from her small trance, blinking at the spectacled teen who proceeded to stare at her with a bit of an impatient look. Grinning sheepishly, Yukio started forward, walking over to the door. When she was near enough, Kei opened the door wider and stepped to the side so she can enter before him.

Once the female passed him, she looked up to him and smiled. "Thanks Tsukishima-san." Her voice soft.

This made Kei realize that he unconsciously opened the door for her. He frowned, glaring at the retreating back of Yukio as if it was her fault.

Silently brooding, he walked over to the counter, standing beside the bluette who was staring at the glass display of pastries with a look of concentration. Kei ignored her and instead, faced the cashier who had a bored look on his face.

"A strawberry shortcake, please." The blond said easily. As he watched the cashier place his order, he quietly pondered if he should ask the female what she wanted.

"The same for me, please."

Apparently, he didn't need to.

Kei sneaked a glance at Yukio, who had her small smile on her lips as she faced the waiter, before looking away when the waiter in question told them the total amount of their purchase.

Yukio pulled her wallet out from her bag, took a few wads of yen and was about to pay when Kei beat her to it, handing money that looked like more than his share. She blinked at the blond with a perplexed expression - did he just did what she thought he had?

Kei could feel the questioning look from Yukio. "I'll pay." His tone was curt and absolute, leaving no room for questions. And the bluette seemed to leave it at that, watching her place her money back without another word from his peripheral view.

Tsukishima Kei has actually been thinking about treating her for today since last night - the same night that Yamaguchi informed him he treat the female differently than normal.

It happened after practice, right before he and his childhood friend had to part ways home. Yamaguchi had reminded him about their meet up in the cafe. Upon hearing this, Kei couldn't help but let out of a small grumble about how he had to pick _her_ up and his friend just had to hear him.

"Oh? You're picking Murakami-san up?" Kei ignored him, his look straight ahead. He didn't need to look at Yamaguchi to know that he was smiling - possibly biting down a smirk based on his tone. "You really do have a soft spot for her, huh? Aren't you glad I wrote down her name on our group?" Okay, now he was positively sure that Yamaguchi was smirking. He didn't had anything to add to the conversation, he also didn't bother denying what he has been accused of, so he was more than grateful when they had finally reached the intersection where they parted ways.

The blond didn't even bother to say goodbye after that.

So why did he pay for Yukio? It was because he still firmly and stubbornly believed he was just acting 'nice' around her because he still felt guilty over making her cry twice. So, Kei figured, that maybe if he did something that made her happy, he can call it quits with his guilt and can go back to treating everyone equally cold.

"Should we order for Yamaguchi-san?" Yukio asked once they sat down on a table, across from each other.

"He can order on his own." He mumbled, taking out his phone to text a brief message to Yamaguchi which just said 'Hurry up'. When he was done, he noticed the bluette taking out something from her bag.

"What's that?" Kei gestured to the notebook she took out.

Yukio inhaled sharply, looking more embarrassed than not as she looked down at pages of her notebook shyly, refusing to meet the blond's eye. "I… Uhm. Notes of ideas and how to do the project?"

Sheepishly, she slided the notebook across the table to him. With a brow raised, Kei took the notebook, his eyes meeting her clean handwriting - cleaner than his that is.

He tried to suppress a smirk. _She did all this? What a nerd._ At that thought, Kei snorted, making the bluette sink down in her chair. The blond shot her an amused glance before reading her writing properly.

"Apparently," Kei shut the notebook closed, "It looks like we don't have anything to discuss anymore. Let's just wait for Yamaguchi then we can go to looking for materials."

He gave her the notebook back just in time for their order to be served; already feeling his spirits being lifted at the sight of the dessert in front of him. Kei prioritized eating his favorite sweet over giving her attention, taking his fork and cutting a section of his shortcake before popping it in his mouth.

"I knew that this should taste good, but not this good!"

Kei looked at her boredly. "What do you mean?"

"You seemed like a picky eater. So I figured what you order without hesitation should be good." She confessed with a small grin which was a bit goofy in his opinion - endearing, even.

The blond was too busy half heartedly glaring at the female to catch his thoughts. "Excuse me?" Kei wasn't sure if what she said was meant to be a compliment or an insult.

"Oi," He tried again when he noticed the bluette was ignoring him, completely enticed with the sweet she was devouring.

Slowly, an idea formed at the back of his mind, making him smirk - no one ignores him and she was not exception. With one swift motion, Kei stabbed the half of the strawberry that rested on the top of her cake. _That_ got her attention. Yukio watched with mouth open in disbelief as the blond slowly and teasingly brought the fruit to his lips before putting it inside his mouth with a smug look.

"Jerk!" She gasped. "I was saving that!"

This time it was him that did the ignoring as he bought his attention back to his cake. He didn't hear any complaints from her after that.

"Hey, uh, Tsukishima-san?" At this point, they both have finished what they have ordered and was now just waiting for Yamaguchi.

Kei actually had the inkling feeling that Yamaguchi is being late on purpose.

"Hm?" He looked at Yukio just in time to see her fidgeting in her sit, looking down at her hands and playing with her fingers - the girl's face was also flushed for some reason. The sight made genuine worry bloom in the blond's chest; was the female alright? Did she feel off?

"Murakami, are you -"

"IKindaWantedToAskAboutAzumane-senpai!"

"... What?" The word came out as a growl but the bluette did not notice this, assuming that the spectacled was just speaking in his usual grunts and growls as a form of response.

"I… uh… wanted to know more about Azumane-senpai…" The more words she got out, the weaker her voice get; and the more words she got out, the more Kei felt pissed.

The scene from the other night surfaced from his memory - when Asahi and Yukio were walking together looking… happy. And how he completely disliked it.

Kei inhaled sharply, trying to calm down, and through gritted teeth asked: "Why?"

There she was again - fidgeting and blushing. Sure he liked her bashful look but not one that was because of another person apparently.

Also, when did he look like a person who wanted to discuss petty crushes? Did he gave a vibe of sorts? Did the female just randomly discussed this with anyone?

But what bothered him the most was the anger and annoyance he felt - it was new, foreign feeling. He had felt anger and annoyance before - often, really - but not like… this. And how this feelings was directed to the ace being questioned and not to the bluette who was doing the questioning.

"Sorry I'm late!" Came a voice that belonged to neither of them but from the one they've been expecting for.

"Yamaguchi-san!"

Yamaguchi smiled sheepishly, "Hey Tsukki, Murakami-san."

Kei stood up rather abruptly now in a mood fouler than before he ate his cake. His usual bored golden-brown orbs narrowed in a glare directed at the newly arrived male, his anger directed now to his poor, unknowing childhood friend.

"You," The blond hissed. "Owe me. Her cake and mine. Now let's go before it gets too late." He went straight for the door, leaving two confused teens in his dusts.

Yamaguchi, who didn't know even an ounce of what had happened looked at Yukio. "What… what did you guys talked about?"

The bluette hesitated before shrugging. "Well, he paid for both of our desserts, talked about the project, ate and… " A pause. " I asked about Azumane-senpai." She mumbled quietly, looking away with a small blush. "Then you came."

With this, Yamaguchi paled, realizing what had happened.

"Oh."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for taking a bit longer despite the fact this chapter is kinda short.**

 **DeceivingAura: Thank you! Also, who knows, right? I already plan to make Oikawa appear soon so we'll see!**

 **Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone! As always, reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoy the new chapter~**

* * *

The next day at practice, everybody can see and feel that something was off about Tsukishima Kei. He was grumpier than usual, more unsociable, more passive - even Kageyama got worried when the setter didn't receive the blond's usual snarky remark earlier when he was sure he would hear from him.

He was frowning the moment he had stepped in court, only scowling and glaring, not a trace of his smug, sarcastic smirk. What the team also noticed was that only time he tries to block a spike seriously was when Asahi was spiking - Kei also found himself glaring at the back of Asahi

occasionally. Of course, the ace did not notice this but the the observant ones, such as Sugawara, Daichi and Kageyama, did - even Noya, who only noticed it because it was directed to his closest friend.

The blond was so off that it even got the point where Ukai himself pulled Kei out of a match and asked if he was alright. In response to his coach, the athlete simply averted his gaze away before mumbling a small "yeah".

From there on, it seems like Kei was watching his actions more carefully now and acted much more like his usual self. But the others didn't forget what happened, nor would they let it slip. So when the morning practice was over, Yamaguchi found himself surrounded by Daichi and Sugawara, who were genuinely worried for their younger member; Kageyama, who just wanted to know one of Kei's weaknesses; and Nishinoya, who's bothered that Kei was acting weird towards Asahi when he usually shows respect around him.

"I-I don't know!" Yamaguchi squeaked after hearing four variations of how to question his childhood friend's well-being. On cue, expressions of puzzlement crossed the four boy's faces. The green-head inhaled deeply, trying to get the initial shock of suddenly being cornered out. "You should go ask Murakami-san."

* * *

"Uhm, Murakami-san?" Yukio looked up from her notes and to a classmate she never interacted with before.

"Yes?"

"There's someone outside who's looking for you." And just like that, the person left. The bluette frowned, confused, before getting up and going out while wondering who would want her at lunch time.

"Murakami-chan!" She heard the moment she stepped out the door. A mop of black hair with bleached fringe appeared right before her in a flash, grinning.

"Oh! Noya-senpai!" Once again, Noya broke out into speeches and what not about him being recognized as a 'senpai' and proceeded to praise his lovely 'kohai' before Yukio finally asked if he needed something.

"Oh yeah!" The libero grasped her wrist before dragging her to a stairway nearby where Suga, Daichi and Kageyama - who had an impatient expression compared to the two - were waiting.

"What took you so long?!" Kageyama hissed at Noya who ignored him in return. "I got Murakami-chan!"

Yukio frowned, wondering where the 'chan' came from but realized she didn't really minded it. "Is something wrong Senpais?" Her eyes fell to Kageyama. "Kageyama-san?"

The four looked at each other in silence for a while before Suga cleared his throat. "Uhm… Did.. Did anything happen to you and… Tsukishima?" The grey haired teen asked carefully, a worried smile on his lips.

Normally, if someone would say that to her, she would be a blushing mess, misinterpreting it so. However, she still remember what had happened yesterday. Her confusion melted into worry while her eyes flashed a hint of guilt. "Oh." She mumbled, suddenly finding the floor much interesting than the four boys around her. "Is he still… I don't know. Not himself?"

"What happened?" This time it was Daichi, a serious look on his bluette flinched a bit, shrinking by the wall as guilt started to consume her more. This made Suga shoot a glare and was about to comfort the female until she spoke up.

"I don't know, honestly." Simultaneously, all four of them looked deflated and defeated.

"We were just eating in a cafe and… and I asked…" Immediately, four set of ears were listening. "About… someone…" This time, her voice was barely above a whisper as she tried to not look at anyone's eyes, her pale complexion slowly being tinged by a pink-ish hue

"Is… is that 'someone' Asahi…?" Yukio wasn't sure who exactly said that but she did feel her face heat up more than it was already was earlier.

"Y-yes…" Had Yamaguchi told on her? It didn't matter, she figured. The whole male's volleyball club of Karasuno would hate on her anyway.

"Wait… So Tsukishima became like this when you asked about Asahi." Sugawara said slowly, as if trying to chew and digest the information he just received. Yukio nodded weakly, her eyes still casted down.

Daichi and Suga looked at each other, both of them bearing a knowing smirk on their lips.

"Well, _that_ explains it." Daichi said, Suga nodding vigorously in agreement before speaking in a relieved tone. "Ah.. It looks like our Tsukishima is growing up."

"What?!" It was Kageyama.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Noya huffed angrily. "What's so bad in asking about Asahi?!"

The third years of the group stared at their lowerclass man before sighing. "We'll explain it later." Daichi promised before turning to Yukio. "Thanks, Murakami-san. And don't worry. You did nothing wrong."

This made the female lift her gaze and was met with the reassuring smile of the captain. "Really?"

"Really." Suga answered for him.

* * *

"HE WHATS?!" Daichi cringe at the loudness of the two younger boys before him while Sugawara tried to shush them both. "Shhh!" The mother hen signal, his index fingers hovering over his lips. "Don't shout you two!"

"It's just a speculation." Their captain admitted with a heavy sigh. "We also think Murakami-chan likes Asahi." Sugawara added as they explained the situation to the two.

Kageyama and Noya looked at each other before shrugging. "Now that's not hard to believe." The libero said as the first-year of the group nodded in agreement. "I don't believe Tsukishima likes Murakami, though." Kagayema said, "I don't even believe that he has a heart, let alone like someone."

Sugawara shot a disapproving glare at his fellow setter who, in response, looked away, pouting away his refusal to take back what he said about a fellow teammate.

"Wait. You mean Tsukishima will keep acting this way until he thinks Murakami-chan doesn't like Asahi anymore?" It was Noya who raised the question, his expression serious. The libero was seriously worried for their Ace - he knew that if Asahi finds out then the guy would surely blame himself for something he had no control over. The whole team had a hard time coercing him back into playing volleyball last time, who knew how long it take to convince him he was not at fault this time.

"How about if Tsukishima think he actually doesn't like her?" Offered Kageyama, who still doesn't believe the sarcastic blond middle blocker can actually bear feelings for someone apart from disliking them.

"That's the thing. I think Tsukishima himself doesn't know."

"Know what?"

"That he likes Murakami?"

Sugawara listened to the exchange of the three, watching as Daichi nodded in confirmation. "I think so, too." The third year setter agreed.

"Hey," Noya caught his teammates attention. "What about Asahi?" The libero asked. Kageyama tilted his head while Daichi asked the question that they all wanted to ask. " _What_ about him, Noya?"

"I mean, does he like her?"

"Does who like who?"

Kageyama and Noya both squeaked and hid behind their upperclassmen while Daichi and Sugawara tried their best to hide their surprise.

All four of them came face to face with a certain giant who looked as apologetic as he can be.

"Asahi!" It was Noya who first spoke up, stepping out behind Sugawara.

"Hey guys… Sorry about that." Asahi had his hand behind his neck, rubbing it awkwardly. "What are you guys doing here anyway?" The brunette asked.

The four of them fell into silence, not knowing if they should tell him or keep mum about it. Noya decided for all of them.

"Hey, Asahi-san. Do you like Murakami-chan?" The libero asked bluntly, making the four of them turn to him in astonishment.

"W-w-what?" The ace stuttered, his face beginning to flush red - he wondered if they knew about how he walked Yukio home, if Kei had told the team, if that's why they were asking that question.

"Is… Is this about the other night?" Asahi said reluctantly.

"The other night?" Sugawara echoed, curious. "What other night?"

The ace paled. Did they not know? Did he ratted in himself?

"I… Walked her home." He hesitated. "Didn't Tsukishima told you guys?"

"You walked her home?" Came the simultaneous reply from all four of them, their tones all equally incredulous. Somehow, they can't picture Asahi walking a girl home unless…

"Did she ask you to walk her home…?" Daichi asked.

"Huh? No. Why?"

Noya, with patience not being one of his virtues, grew impatient of the tension and finally blurted out: "Do you like Murakami-chan or not?"

If Asahi's face could get any more redder, it would; he put his hand up before him as if in surrender. "I do!"

Gasps were heard and they were about to bombard Asahi with questions until he spoke again.

"I mean, she seems like a great friend, right? I thought all of us liked her?"

These made the four freeze in their spot. "Wait… As a _friend?_ " Noya repeated, now the one confused.

"Yeah! As a friend. Why?"

"So… No romantic feelings? None whatsoever?"

"None." Asahi gazed at all of their faces - who all looked relieved. "Uh. What's happening guys?"

All of them didn't have the heart to tell Asahi - they knew that if they told him about Tsukishima then the ace would surely blame himself.

Suddenly, an imaginary light bulb went off inside Noya's head. A smirk formed on his lips as an idea assembled. "Don't worry, guys." Addressing the three other who was aware about the situation, leaving Asahi out of the picture.

"I have a plan."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: HI. Okay, I'm sorry. I know that this is long overdue and such but life got pretty hectic and well, class started and what not so I got busier as they days went by - and will still continue to get busier until who knows how long.**

 **But here it is!**

 **And thank you all for the positive feedback, it encourages me, really.**

 **Enjoy, and drop by the reviews if you have the time.**

 **-S**

* * *

Yuu Nishinoya was completely aware that he told his teammates with much confidence that he had a plan and he was going to handle the whole Asahi-Murakami-Tsukishima fiasco - and he meant it, he really did. But now that a day has passed, all his adrenaline from the day before had gone and suddenly he didn't feel that confident doing it anymore.

His feelings about the situation hasn't changed - he still wanted to get that out of the way as soon as possible; especially with the interhigh-preliminaries just around the corner, the team couldn't risk to be distracted or bear ill-feelings for one another that would affect their team's unity, and thus their overall game performance.

However, as much as he wants to rethink his so-called plan, or ask an outside opinion regarding it, Noya knew that he did not have the leisure to stall some more - the faster he solved this mess, the sooner everything will go back to normal for the Volleyball team.

Sure, he kinda regret the whole outburst of him about having a plan but he's Yuu Nishinoya, and he'll get through his plan and fix this sooner than later because, dammit, he doesn't go back on his word.

And exactly with that line of thought did Noya ended up outside the classroom for the first year, class four. He was reluctant, which didn't came often for someone who usually dive head first into things.

"Nishinoya-san?" The libero looked behind him, seeing two of his teammates, namely Yamaguchi and Kei.

"Is there something wrong?" Yamaguchi asked, assuming Noya came for them being teammates and all. Kei also looked a bit curious, not used to seeing a teammate of theirs waiting outside of their classroom before classes starts - especially Noya, who looked like the kind of student who was always late for anything not volleyball related; much like Hinata and Kageyama probably.

Seeing Kei, Noya was unsure if he should be honest with them and tell that he was looking for Yukio or just come up with something. However, a familiar shade of dark blue blob approaching them caught his attention, ignoring his two lowerclassmen in favour of looking behind them.

"Murakami-chan!" He called out a little too happily as he waved his hand, trying to get her attention. The girl in question stopped besides Kei, her head tilted curiously. "Noya-senpai?"

Now, normally, the libero will go through a long impromptu speech of happiness about how he was recognized as a 'senpai' followed by a squeal of glee and the like, but seeing as the subject of discussion was urgent (and that Kei immediately narrowed his eyes skeptically although it wasn't really directed at him), he grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her to a uncrowded part of the halls.

"Murakami-chan, I need to talk to you." The air around went somber as the words left Noya's lips. Yukio, who has learned the hard way that Noya didn't bore feelings for her, didn't melt into her panicked self like she usually would. Instead, she was worried and anxious - worried that her friend - could she call him that? - had a problem; anxious that she was somehow part of this problem or the cause of this problem.

Well… she wasn't wrong, per se.

"It's about Asahi-san." Noya began. Even though the conclusion of yesterday's conversation with Daichi and the others were mere speculations and can be classified as them jumping into conclusions, Yukio's burning cheeks at the mere mentions of the Ace's name was more than enough to prove the notion that she perhaps did bear feelings for the shy giant.

"U-uh. W-what about A-azumane-senpai?" The female could barely keep up eye-contact with Noya, much less speak straightly. In truth, however, she was less concerned about her recently developing crush for Asahi. In fact, she was more worried by how Kei has been acting rather than thinking about her feelings that only when Noya mentioned it did she remember.

"Do you like him?" Noya blurted out without warning that even he surprised himself. No going back now, he figured.

Her bright blue eyes widened, unsure how to react. Her brain tried to rake for an answer to the libero's question. Did she? She thinks she does. What's not to like about Asahi, anyway? He was sweet, a gentleman, kind, dependable (to a certain limit), and it wasn't like Asahi wasn't pleasant to the eye - she actually didn't quite understand the rumour around him - she finds him kind of good looking to be frank.

"Well?" Noya fixed her an impatient look, his eyes wide in anticipation. "I…" Yukio hesitated, biting on her lower lip as she tried to avoid his eyes. "I don't… know." She admitted.

The male fell silent for a while, blinking at her. "You… You don't know?" Noya repeated, trying to clarify it. What does she even mean by she doesn't know? You either like a person or not - how can she not know? Noya knew he liked Kiyoko and he also knew he doesn't like anyone who attempted on her - how hard can it be?

Apparently, his tone came out as intimidating as he found himself on the receiving end of a squeak as she covered her face with both of her hands. "I-i'm sorry!"

Noya could feel his blood draining - he wouldn't admit it but ever since they discovered Kei made Yukio cry at one point in time, Noya gets unreasonably anxious whenever the female gets upset or acting like she is now in fear that he might also make her cry. To make it short, ever since that story, his view towards the female is that she was extremely fragile. Also, he didn't want to run extra laps like Kei - which he still does as Ukai proves to remember things and hold it against them.

"No, don't be sorry!" He inhaled deeply before sighing just as deep. "It's just that. You can't, Murakami-chan." He paused, waiting for the female to react. Yukio, on the other hand, simply spread her ring and index finger apart on both hands and proceeded to look at Noya through the space. "I can't…?" She asked, more confused than anything else.

"Yes." He said slowly, cautiously.

Yukio lowered her hands carefully, growing more perplexed as the conversation kept going. "Why…?"

"Because…" Noya looked around them anxiously, making sure there was no one relatively close around to hear them which, of course, in return, made her _more_ confused.

The libero silently cursed himself for thinking this in the first place but now he was stuck to go through with it - Sugawara and the others were counting on him.

"Well, you can, technically. But I just wanted you to know that…"

 _Here goes nothing._ He thought, inhaling sharply. "It's because Asahi-san… he…" Another pause, another intake of breath, another glance on their surroundings. "He… he kinda… plays for the other team...?" Noya sounded so unsure that he probably wouldn't even convince himself, much less Yukio. So imagine his surprise when the female actually bought it… Kinda.

"He… What?" A perplexed frown made it's way to the bluette's face as she tried to take in what he said. She might not be a volleyball expert of sorts but Yukio was quite sure that you can't play for the opposing team. "Isn't that like… Betraying you guys? Is that why I can't like him?"

"... What…?" Noya stared at her. Did she just said what he think she said…?

"Can athletes suddenly switched teams? Is Azumane-senpai transferring schools?"

"Murakami-chan…" He sighed, defeated. "No…"

Apparently, this will be harder than he thought.

There was still time to back out - an opportunity to not go through this at all, but Noya could not piece together another plan on the spot while inquiring blue eyes stared at him, waiting. He couldn't just say 'nevermind' and just go on like nothing happened, right? Of course he can't that would be stupid… not that trying to fix this all by himself wasn't yet there he is anyway.

For the ninth time, Noya inhaled deeply in a slightly futile way to calm himself down. "Asahi-san… he plays for… the other… team." He repeated whilst apologizing to Asahi internally, repeating the pardon in his head like a mantra.

Noya had hoped that now he had said it better, slower and clearer, Yukio would then understand what he had meant. However, the ever confused expression of the female told otherwise.

She didn't.

He just had to say it another way, then.

"Uhm," He began again. This time he wasn't as nervous though - rather, he was now more focused on figuring out how to break the (fake) news to her. "Well. He's… still in the closet."

"Azumane-senpai's in a closet…?" Her voice was soft, slow, and sincerely confused that Noya didn't have the heart to accuse her of making fun of him.

"You know… He hasn't come out yet…"

With the still perplexed look on her face, it was evident to Noya that the only way to tell her was not through a play of words but perhaps, if said directly…

"He likes guys." He blurted out. By that time, the only thing he wanted to do was to get it over with and just pass on the message; students were already pouring in, classes were about to start, and he had already said too much that if he left it hanging, Yukio might go to Yamaguchi and Kei to ask if they knew what he was talking about and that simply won't do.

Noya looked around them one last time to make sure no one was near enough to hear their conversation before turning back to the female in front of him, gesturing her to come closer. Tilting her head, Yukio edged towards him. Once he deemed she was near enough, Noya leaned over, whispering. "Asahi-san's gay, Murakami-chan. That's why."

Yukio's lips formed a small 'o', blinking at Noya as he stepped back. "He doesn't talk about it much, though." He added quickly. "Only a handful of people know."

And by handful, he meant only himself. Literally.

* * *

"You what?!" Sugawara hissed, shooting a look of disapproval at a certain libero. " _That_ was your plan?!"

Noya was reliable in the court - very, in fact. So when he announced that he had a plan, Sugawara was more than happy to trust him, assuming that he was as reliable in other matters as he was in volleyball.

Obviously the setter was wrong.

The libero looked away as if in shame before turning back to face his ash colored haired friend. "I told Murakami-chan that she can't tell anyone…?" Noya's tone was hopeful, like that statement would make everything fine.

"It's called spreading a rumor, Nishinoya. And Asahi has tons of those already!"

"I'm sorry! It was the only thing that I can think of that won't really stop her from liking Asahi-san, just, you know, not pursue him romantically…"

"That is true…" Daichi said thoughtfully, which made him get the receiving end of Sugawara's look of disbelief. He ignored it.

"Plus, we can't really do anything about it anymore since it's already done."

Knowing what their captain said was true, Sugawara sighed and looked at Noya wearily. "So why were you asking for help again?"

The libero's eyes panned back and forth to Sugawara and Daichi a few times before casting his eyes down, a sigh escaping his lips - a sigh of defeat. "Well… Murakami-chan wants to go speak to Asahi-san about it…She looked -"

"Wait," Sugawara cut Noya off in mid-sentence. "Does… Asahi even know about… this?" The setter had a feeling he already knew what the libero would answer but some confirmation wouldn't hurt right?

A pregnant paused hanged in the air before Noya finally answered. "No…"

Truthfully, Sugawara couldn't blame Noya if he had opted not to tell Asahi. And if the setter had a choice, he'd prefer this ending with Asahi not knowing - how bad could it be that one person thought that the Ace was gay? Yukio seemed like one to keep a promise about being mum and only him, Daichi, Noya and probably Kageyama soon, would know about this - the possibility of the rumor spreading were small. It was the last year of Asahi, too; after he graduates, the rumor will be long forgotten.

Sugawara's eyes met Daichi's and together, the shared a knowing look, as if reading each other's mind; nodding in what seems to be a silent agreement, the two third years faced their lowerclass man.

"Let's pay Asahi a visit, shall we?" Daichi spoke, "Preferably before Murakami-chan."

* * *

On the other side of things while the upperclassmen were preparing their line of defense for Asahi…

Yukio has already decided earlier that she was to look for a certain ace before she went on with her club activities. As she was putting away her things, she saw a certain blond unmoving in his sit amongst the crowd of classmates that looked excited to get out. She paid no mind to this, proceeding to place notebooks inside her bag and zip it closed. By the time she was finished, her bag hanging on her shoulders and the classroom empty, did the guy move to get up - a bit sluggishly, too she noticed.

Whilst observing him, an idea suddenly clicked at the back of her mind and realization suddenly flooded her.

"Tsukishima-san!" The bluette called out hastily when he turned around to leave.

Kei, who was simply just waiting for Yamaguchi that got asked to do something for a teacher, turned to her with a lazy brow raised. He didn't really mean to acknowledge her, but he found it hard to do something that may upset the female in question.

"What is it?" He asked as his golden eyes met pale blue ones.

"I'm sorry." Yukio wasted no time saying, even doing a small bow to go along with her apology. In her mind, she finally pieced why the male had been acting differently - it was because…

"You're such a great friend, Tsukishima-san!"

The bluette looked back up to the blond with her eyes twinkling in… Admiration?

Kei became perplexed - first she says sorry and now she's complimenting him? He didn't said anything, though.

"I know why you've been acting weird ever since I asked Azumane-san."

Suddenly, Kei felt his heart skipped a nervous beat. _She_ knew? What did she even knew? Even he himself didn't know what was going on and this female claims she knows?

The blond waited for the bluette to continue her explanation, half afraid that his voice will fail him if he tried to speak, half not knowing what to even say about her sudden claim.

"Don't worry, Tsukishima-san. I know now. Noya told me the whole thing - it must've been hard to explain so you just avoided me." When Noya said 'several people knew', Yukio easily assumed that those people were the volleyball team. "And I think you're a great friend for doing it. I understand."

The once anxious feeling inside Kei died down and was replaced with so much astonishment that he didn't even know he could feel.

"Uh. What are you talking about, Murakami…?"

A cheeky grin made it's way to the female's lips. "Don't be silly, Tsukishima-san. Like I've told you: I already know. No need to act that way."

"Murakami, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about right now."

"You know… That Azumane-senpai is…" The bluette was now emphasizing her every word, and as she trailed off, Yukio even began to motion her hands in a gesture that looked like she was trying to encourage Kei to finish her sentence.

"Is…?" He repeated carefully, trying to sound as patient as possible. The male wanted to go - especially if the only reason Yukio had approached him was to talk about Asahi - she had the whole volleyball team for that.

Silently, he curse Yamaguchi for agreeing to help their teacher.

The athlete watched as the bluette before him looked around carefully, probably making sure they were alone he assumed. After that, she gestured for him to come closer, wanting to say it in a whisper.

The blond was taking none of it, only blinking blankly back at her as a response.

When she realized that he was not going to do what she wanted, a small pout surfaced by habit.

She did a quick check of their surroundings once more before speaking again.

"That… He's gay." Yukio's voice was so soft, afraid that someone would overhear them, that Kei almost didn't caught wind of it. In fact, if the empty classroom wasn't so eerily silent then he probably wouldn't heard her.

However, Kei couldn't believe his ears.

It took him a while for the words to sink down but, once it did, a bubble of laughter escaped his lips.

The blond's laugh was soft yet deep with a hand slowly raising up to press back of his palms to his lips in order to contain the chuckles. It wasn't the usual sarcastic nor smug snicker she noted; it was filled with amusement and a hint of relief.

The female couldn't help but stare at him, awestruck. She wasn't aware that he could produce a laugh that sound like… _that_. It made him sound his age, she thought. Looked like one too without the scowl on his face. And perhaps it was the vacant classroom where one could easily hear even the echo of a needle dropping, but the sound of his laughter made her shiver in a… Pleasant way.

Of course, the uncharacteristic laugh ended as sudden as it had began. Kei cleared his throat and tried to collect himself in spite of the small smile trying to fight its way to the edge of his lips.

Just like the last time they had talked about Asahi, the spectacled teen felt a burst of emotions - but this time, they were much more pleasant; like something was lifted off his chest.

On the other hand, the bluette that was secretly - or not so secretly judging from the light blush on her cheeks - enjoying the sound of his laughter was a tad bit disappointed when it was over too soon.

Kei wasn't sure where the bluette even heard that news, nor did he particularly cared at the moment. Hell, he didn't even question the relief that flooded him - he just felt good. That's that.

"Tsukishima-san?" Yukio began once the silence began to set in.

Not exactly knowing what to do after the unexpected revelation, Kei silently decided to play along.

"Ah yeah, sorry about that." He murmured, a bit too awkwardly. He wasn't a fan of apologies after all - especially sincere ones… Good thing he didn't need to be right now.

"It's okay! It was for your friend; I understand." She smiled. "Actually, do you know where I can find Azumane-senpai?" She inquired, and this time, the pang on Kei's chest was absent unlike the other day.

"Why?"

"Oh. I wanted to talk to him about it… Just… I heard he doesn't talk about it much to people because he was afraid of rejection. So I wanted him to know that I accept him."

This got him to thinking; he knew that what she heard was a rumor - but letting this get to Asahi? In spite of himself, he had a soft spot for his teammates.

He also found himself curious as to where Yukio heard the rumor and how she didn't even question the validity of it; Kei figured she wasn't _that_ naive to just believe what she hears - so perhaps someone that was close to Asahi told her so?

A part of him wanted to know just who it was… Maybe even thank them. Hah.

"Asahi-san, huh? I think he goes home early." He lied. The blond could think of several dozens of reaction that the ace would make once Yukio suddenly does an impromptu speech about being gay… All unpleasant and self-blaming. Asahi was known as a soft-hearted pessimist after all.

He'd probably think he angered someone that's why the rumors surfaced.

"Actually…" Kei's tone was thoughtful. "You shouldn't talk to him about it." He suggested, breaking into an explanation when he felt her eyes watch him curiously.

"Asahi-san is very… Very sensitive about it." The blond nodded like that would help him convince her. "He doesn't like speaking about it in public."

A pause.

"Even in private." He mended. "In fact, he doesn't want to talk about it - ever. He made that very clear. That's why I tried to avoid you."

Gods, even Hinata probably wouldn't buy that story. _Hinata._

Kei continued anyway. "So I need you to promise to not mention it to anyone ever, okay? It's our secret."

Yukio nodded and even made a zipping motion over her lips.

"Idiot." He snorted, rolling his eyes at her before lifting a hand and flicking the female's forehead. Before the bluette can protest, the door opened and there stood Yamaguchi.

"Tsukki! I'm sorry it took so long!" He panted. "I didn't - oh! Murakami-chan?" Yamaguchi blinked at the sight - weren't the two on bad terms? Or that's what he thought. "Are you walking home with us?" He couldn't help but ask, a grin on his lips.

The blond faced the door, ready to exit. "She has club activities." He answered for her, back to his normal demeanor. "Come on, Yamaguchi."

But Yamaguchi didn't spend years with him to be fooled by such a simple act - he knew that the tall teen was in good spirits now, thankfully.

"See you Murakami-chan!"

"Take care, Yamaguchi-san, Tsukishima-san."

"Mhm."

Looks like the two were going to do fine without him trying to set them up, Yamaguchi noted as he walked back home along side Kei whose lips were still tugged upwards in the smallest of smiles.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hey guys! Sorry for only updating now. It's been a while, I know. I'm really sorry! But, I managed to finish my major requirements so here's a chapter to celebrate I guess? lol. I hope you guys still enjoy it.**_

 _ **Also, thank you for everyone who dropped by the review section! Greatly appreciated!**_

 _ **Now, I'll leave you guys be.**_

* * *

After a week of continuous club 'emergency' meetings in preparation for the revival of the school's paper all Yukio wanted was a break even for just a day - anything that wasn't school paper related, honestly. So the moment that her best friend asked if she wanted to meet with her, the bluette didn't even need to think twice before she accepted the offer.

Going to the city's cafe like old times certainly sounds like something that would unwind her even just for a little bit. Plus, the person she was going to meet up with certainly sounds like she had something to tell or ask her that could not wait any longer than the soonest weekend at that time. Hence, she was currently commuting to Sendai - hey, if she plans to unwind, might as well do it in the largest city in the prefecture right?

She was pulled out of her musing when she heard the name of her stop being said by the announcer followed by the mechanical sigh of the train's door as it opened. She stepped out along with the crowd and made her way through the station and out in the city. It wasn't her first time there, but it was her first time after graduating from middle school. Yukio weaved through the throng of people easily, knowing fully where she needed to go and which path to take. Soon enough she arrived in front of a pastel yellow colored cafe that read '38 Mitsubachi Kitchen', pushing the door open without further adieu.

Inside, the cafe was a cozy kind of white filled with wooden tables and dark green parson chairs to match. Not much people were in it - it wasn't the most fanciest cafe in the city but she and her friends love the food; affordable and tasty, they put it, especially for students like them.

Scanning around, her blue orbs rested on a certain red-head on the far corner of the building, sitting by herself. She approached the table with a small smile, stopping in front of the redhead who looked up at her with an impatient look.

"About time you got here, Murakami."

"Glad to see you, too, Kaoru."

The bluette sat on the chair parallel to her friend knowing full well her friend didn't meant the greeting.

"So," Yukio began as she settled on her seat. "Why did you want to see me?"

The question seemed rather straightforward, yes, but from the years of friendship, Yukio knew that Kaoru wouldn't call her to meet on the weekend without good reason. She wasn't much of a socialite and it was more likely that it was Yukio who would first set the date for the get together. So when the redhead called her and ask to meet up in their usual spot, she figured that she might've wanted to ask something, or tell her something, perhaps.

As a reply, Yukio was met with a stubborn pout from the female in front of her, making her blink. "Kaoru-chan?" She tried again, only for Kaoru to huff and face the other way, arms cross. This made the bluette raise her brow. "Is anything wrong?"

"You don't tell me stuff anymore."

"What made you say that?"

The redhead shrugged, let out a small huff before sighing while Yukio simply sat there, patient. It wasn't the first time Kaoru acted like that - for someone who has an image of dependable and stoic, Kaoru can be sulky as a child that didn't get what she wanted if she wanted to be. But only the bluette saw that side of her, of course.

After a few moments of silence, Yukio reached for the menu and waved it in front of the redhead. "I'll treat you if you tell me what's wrong?" She tried, a hopeful smile on her lips. "Come on. I know how much you love the food here."

Another huff. "You didn't tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"That you had a boyfriend."

Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment before her eyebrows furrowed in a frown - what is up with people assuming she had a boyfriend these days? Was it a thing?

"Did Ryu put you up to this?" She said aloud - she didn't meant to, but the question was out anyway so why bother mending it?

"Ryu? Of course not!"

Well, she actually knew that - the two weren't close after all.

"So is it true?" Kaoru huffed once again, puffing her cheeks. A sigh escaped the bluette's lips; if she had only knew _this_ was why she wanted to meet up, then maybe Yukio wouldn't have been as eager to accept the offer than she was at first.

"I don't have a boyfriend, Kaoru." The redhead's eyes narrowed skeptically at the female before her. "Liar." She said flatly, her tone impatient.

"Where did you even heard that I had a boyfriend? If I _did_ have one - which I don't - then you would be the first to know."

"Oh yeah? So who did Ayako see the other day? She was visiting her grandparents who live in the same town you moved at and she said she saw you with someone. Y'know - blond, tall, glasses. And in a cafe no less."

A grunt escaped the bluette's lips. Of course it just _had_ to be Kei Tsukishima that her schoolmate back in middle school saw.

Then again, it's not like she went out a lot with different people. But still.

"Kaoru," She sighed "That wasn't my boyfriend. That was my groupmate, we were waiting for another friend." She pursed her lips for a moment in hesitation before adding: "He's also the annoying guy I told you about the other day." Although, now that she thought about it, Kei wasn't _that_ annoying, was he?

Kaoru raised a brow in question. "The one who was getting on your nerves?"

"Yes."

The redhead gave her a look that said she didn't believe what she was saying for a minute before shrugging. "Oh well, not like I care if you were going to have a boyfriend and not tell me about it."

"You called me out to the city to ask me about it. How is that not caring?" Yukio found herself at the receiving end of a weak glare before Kaoru grabbed the menu that laid on the table.

"Your treat, right?"

The bluette couldn't help but grin a bit, shaking her head in disbelief at her friend. "Yeah. Although I feel like I should be the one being treated after being accused like that."

The redhead ignored her, completely focused on the menu.

The rest of their meeting went smooth so far - Kaoru sharing how Aoba has been, who stayed and who went to another high school while Yukio told her about her experiences in Karasuno in general without, of course, holding back on details especially about Kei as Kaoru still held doubt that he and the bluette weren't a thing.

"So," Kaoru began as she took a sip from her milkshake. "Until what time can you stay here?"

"Oh. Ryu said to wait for him here so I guess whenever he arrives."

"Where from?"

"Practice."

The redhead grinned. "I guess I just have to stay with you until then." And that was Kaoru's plan, really. However, after an hour or so, her phone rang. Yukio had a feeling then that she wouldn't stay any longer. Kaoru's family owned a cafe and while she didn't really work there officially, whenever a waitress would call in sick, she'd take care of the shift.

"What? But I'm with Yuki!" The bluette heard her friend complain to the phone which confirmed her guess.

A few more words, Kaoru sighed in defeat while shooting the girl in front of her an apologetic look as she ended the phone call.

"I'm so sorry. Ayu can't make it to the shop and I need to take over."

Yukio replied with an understanding smile. "It's fine Kao, we can always meet up again." She suggested, watching as the redhead reluctantly stood up. Kaoru then proceeded to pull her wallet from the bag she had on her before taking a couple of yen and placing it on their table. "Tell you what," The redhead slung her bag over her shoulders. "Treat me when we have a whole day for ourselves, yeah?"

The bluette wasn't sure why and how she ended up owing the redhead as she only offered to treat Kaoru to stop her from being sulky but Yukio laughed and nodded anyway.

The redhead was about to leave, paused, looked at Yukio, and hesitated before saying one final thing before she went on her way. A statement that left the bluette's lips parted slightly in disbelief and various emotions more.

* * *

When Kaoru left, she figured since Ryu would be expecting her waiting for him anyway, she might as well enjoy the day, right?

Right.

… Unless she enjoyed the day too much and spent her money until she barely had enough left to go home that is.

Yukio ended up binge buying stationary items - pens, notebooks, different kinds of paper, markers and whatnot. Apart from this, the female had a soft spot for ice creams, waffles, crepes and, well, a lot of things if she was to be honest.

Luckily, when she realized that she was running out of money, it was around the time that her and her brother agreed on.

And, as if on cue, her cellphone rang. Yukio answered and could hear the noisy background which sounded like a group of males as she pressed her phone to her ear.

"Oi, Yuki!" Ryu's voice came from the other line. Shortly after, she could hear what could only be her brother's teammates voices.

"Yuki-chaaan!"

"Oh hey is that Yuki?"

"Yooo! Mini-kami!"

"Hey kiddo!"

Yukio couldn't help but smile as she listened to them until Ryu told them to shut their trap.

"Anyway," Her brother continued once his teammates settle down. "Are you still in the city?"

"Yeah…"

"I'll be there in a while. Let's meet at the usual place, yeah?"

When the younger sibling hummed in acknowledgment, Ryu ended the call.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the other side of things, Kei was, coincidentally, also in Sendai.

When volleyball practice ended, the blond checked his phone out of habit and saw a text from his mother to go to the city and buy something for her with a promise to pay him back once he got home. Finding that he didn't really had a choice but to follow what his mom wants, he decided to just get it over with as fast as he could.

With music blasting from his headphones and a plastic bag hanging lazily from the tips of his fingers, Kei Tsukishima was proud to say that he did his errands in less than 15 minutes and can finally go back home - usually he'd look around the city for a bit but practice was especially hard given the tournament around the corner.

As he was walking back to the direction the train station however, he spotted a familiar dark blue haired, pale blue eyed individual amongst the crowd. His strides slowed for a bit as he continued to gaze at the female who looked like she just came out of… the 100 yen shop. The spectacled teen couldn't help but raise a brow in judgement at the amount of paper bags she was holding.

If he was to be honest, the thought of approaching her (she looked done for the day and alone) crossed his mind. But then it was probably too much effort, he figured, and he also silently decided he had enough socializing for day even though he knew Yukio wouldn't really say much if he did approach her - nothing would probably come out of it, really.

Just when he had decided to just pretend that he didn't notice the female at all, a scene unfolded before him. Two guys, probably older than them, suddenly approached the bluette he had been observing. Now, Kei would normally pay this no mind - nothing wrong with a girl meeting up with her guy friends after all - but the nervous expression that suddenly could be seen in her face made an anxious tug in his gut.

His steps proceeded to halt as he stood just a few feet away from the three, far enough for him to go unnoticed but fortunately near enough to rush her if something happened… not that he intended to do that or anything.

While Kei was watching with eyes narrowed rather dangerously, Yukio, who was part of the scene, wanted to cry. It wasn't the first time that boys from the city tried to hit on her, it was her first time being hit on alone however. Usually, Kaoru took care of them or her brother and his team was near enough to see her (imagine the terror of the guy who made a pass on her), but right now, no one was with her. This is what she got for making the stop on the hundred yen shop despite her protesting wallet - all she needed to do was go straight to the station, wait for Ryu there, and go back home. But no, she couldn't do just that apparently.

The waves of panic and anxiety that came crashing down on her was too much to the point that she couldn't hear whatever they said properly, but it was probably just the same thing like back then; asking for her name, number, to come with them or whatever. So she just shook her head, muttered 'no thanks' repeatedly like a mantra in hopes that they'd leave her alone while slowly taking a step back.

Yukio saw one of the guys raised their hands to reach out for her. She raised her arms in defense as a small yelp left her lips and her eyes clamped close in fear. Instead of a hand wrapping around her wrist, she felt an arm wrapping around her shoulders before being pushed in a warm chest. Which was, in no way, better… not until the one holding her spoke.

Relief washed through her body the moment she heard the voice of who was holding her.

"What do you bastards think you're doing?" It was more of a growl than a question and anybody would have probably felt a shiver down their spine if they were at the receiving end but Yukio could recognize that voice anywhere. The bluette risked opening an eye to peek at the person holding her and boy, did his face look as dangerous as how he sounded like. The warmth, comfort and protection that the person provided soon left her as he retracted his arm back to him and took a step forward while continuing to threaten those who were bothering her.

Just when Yukio thought that that was the last of someone unceremoniously touching her for the day, a vice like grip suddenly closed around her wrist and tugged her roughly that if she had not commanded her legs to run the she probably would've ended getting dragged by whoever it was and the last thing she saw from the scene was the aqua and white jersey that bore the number '1' on its back.

"Toor-!" She tried to call out in hopes that he'd help her but her protest died on her lips when she was just who was it who grabbed her. "T-tsukishima-san?!" The bluette gasped in between pants as she blinked at the spectacled blond before her.

Kei, who has not stopped watching for a second the moment those two guys approached Yukio, actually tried to intervene when one of them tried to touch her but was beaten by a brunet who seemingly came out of nowhere. The brunet was familiar in his eyes but his blood was boiling enough when he was watching the female being terrorized and more so when he saw the newcomer wrap an arm around her like it was second nature. Uncharacteristically, the blond's mind jump into conclusion that the brunet was also part of the duo - thus, when he unhanded the bluette, Kei did not waste one second of grabbing her and sprinting to the direction of the train station; which was, thankfully, not much far from where they came from.

The blond only released her once they arrived at the station. The endless training from volleyball built his endurance that the run didn't even make him break a sweat, the bluette beside him, however, was panting non-stop. The spectacled teen couldn't resist rolling his eyes at her as he took the paper bags from hands and held it for her. "Come on." He said coolly as if nothing had happened prior to their run. He would've asked if she was alright but Kei figured getting out of Sendai was priority as they might've been followed.

Yukio was about to thank him, apologize and explain that she couldn't really leave just yet but something about Kei's expression made her hesitate and decide against it. She knew that look - kinda - it was the same look that he had when she was sure he was annoyed with her for going to his practice that ended up with him having to walk her home, or when she asked about Asahi the other day. And if she had learned anything, it was that she'd rather deal with her brother's temper than Kei's.

So imagine the horror when Yukio, while _trying_ to get money from her wallet to pay for her fare back home, realize that she didn't have enough yen left and didn't really know how to explain it to Kei who was still holding all of that she binge shopped. But she didn't have to say a word, apparently, as the blond hovering just behind her saw exactly what was happening. A weary sigh escaped Kei's lips as he shifted the bags to hang on his arms for a while as he took out his wallet, pulled out some yen and leaned over to slide the money to the cashier on the other side of the window. This made his chest press against her back, making her tense. She watched as Kei handed over the money that obviously looked like it wasn't just for one ticket.

" _ **I don't know about you, Yukio, but that one bit about the Asahi guy story makes me think blondie was actually jealous. Maybe he likes you?"**_ Kaoru's words echoed in her mind. It was supposed to be a tease but Yukio was an overthinker and Kaoru was known for making jokes out of what she thinks are true sometimes but didn't want to say it directly.

She tensed at the sudden body contact. "For two, please." Yukio heard Kei say - or felt it, rather. The low vibrations his chest emitted as he spoke could be felt and that made the female more anxious than she already was, she could also feel her face heating up.

But, despite it, she made no move to pull away. In fact, she was a tad bit disappointed that it ended all too soon - it felt rather nice after all.

" _ **Oh, by the way… you'll tell me when you develop feelings for this blond guy, yeah?"**_ Kaoru's grin that time suggested it was all a jest but her hesitance before she said it told otherwise. Before Yukio could even question how she thought she'll ended up developing feelings for Kei, or even reply to her statement at all, the redhead was out the door.

So why was her best friend's words of wisdom echoing now? Because indecent thoughts like thinking Kei's chest pressed against her back was nice. Sure she also thought being pushed into Tooru's chest earlier was nice but that was because there was possible immediate danger in front of her if the male athlete did not come. With Kei, however…

"Oi, Murakami. Hurry up." Yukio blinked, seeing a train card being waved at her face. Kei must've noticed that she was done zoning out as he tried to give it to her properly instead of waving it around.

"I can carry my bag now, Tsukishima-san. Thank you." The bluette said once the duo stepped into the train's platform. Kei, however, didn't seem to hear her. Or if he did, he didn't show signs of it. The train back arrived shortly after.

Yukio, who felt guilty that Kei still had her belongings - and she knew those weren't really the lightest items she had bought - tried again. As she began to say the same words she said earlier, the blond cut her off mid-sentence. "I heard you the first time," Kei said just before the train door opened in front of them.

He entered without a word and despite the crowd that entered along with the small amount of selection of available seats, he went to the first free seat he saw, hovered over it and glared at anyone who tried to sit on it until Yukio came. "Sit." Kei said curtly, nodding at the free seat he was hovering on.

The trip throughout was silent. Mostly because of Kei's lack of response to… well everything. Yukio probably tried to catch his attention once or twice but no avail. He was busy feeling guilty after all, lost in his own thoughts.

Kei replayed the scene inside his head again and again, feeling bad that he knew he could've intervene the moment those boys have approached her… but no. He was a coward or whatever - whatever he was, he shouldn't have waited that long to try help a… friend.

Unconsciously, a grunt escaped his lips as he internally admitted the budding friendship between them both.

"Tsukishima-san?" Kei felt a tug on the bottom corner of his shirt. Looking down, he locked eyes with Yukio who had a small nervous smile. "Uh. We're here." The bluette informed him sheepishly. Only then did he realised that he was actually blocking her way to stand up and leave.

Awkwardly, the blond cleared his throat before stepping away and out into the train coach. The moment they exited the train, they heard a phone ring. "Oh!" The bluette beside him squeaked as she rummage through her bag. Kei couldn't resist a smirk, "Hey, Sailor Moon, your phone's ringing." He teased, snickering as she shot him a small pout while pulling out her phone.

"Hello?" She answered gingerly. The bluette refused to press her phone to her ear, Kei noticed. At first the blond found this action questionable until even _he_ , who was standing a few steps away from her, heard a rather angry sounding voice originating from the other side of the phone.

"Ryu, I'm fine! Calm down." Her voice was soothing. Kei even found himself relaxing his posture a little. The blond didn't knew how she does it but perhaps it was a skill you learn if you lived with a protective brother with temperamental issues.

Lo and behold, apparently Yukio just chiding her brother to calm down actually works as the female was now holding the phone to her ear.

"I'm… I'm on my way home." … "Yes. I know. I'm sorry." … "I… panicked?"

Not wanting to look like he was eavesdropping, Kei decided to go on without her and just wait for his companion on the other side of the gate. He could hear her follow suite.

Like their usual walks together, a comfortable kind of silence dawned on them… or that's what they want to think. Yukio felt awkward that Kei was _still_ carrying _her_ bags. Meanwhile, Kei was, well, in a bit of an inner conflict with himself. It didn't get better when halfway through their route, Yukio, who couldn't stop feeling bad, tried to retrieved the bags from the blond which earned her a pointed look from him.

A sigh escaped his lips afterwards. He was only so persistent in helping her because guilt was still there - it was always guilt when it's about this particular bluette. Always. From the crying and now to this. Sure Kei experienced guilt once and awhile but not this strong for just one person in particular.

He hated to admit it but if this keeps up, he might just believe Yamaguchi that he _did_ have a soft spot for her.

Kei walked her all the way to her house. He was hesitant at first, wondering if her older brother was gonna give him shit for it but did it anyway.

"Here." The blond handed Yukio her shopping bags. There was a pause between the two before he spoke while looking away to avoid eye contact. "Be more careful next time."

"Oh. Uh, thanks, Tsukishima-san." Warmth spread in Yukio, her cheeks flushing as she smiled at Kei's direction.

Not long after, the blond left. The female wondered if it was best that she hadn't told him that she was actually safe by the time he tried to save her. Tooru came before him after all.

It didn't matter, she told herself. It's not like Kei and Tooru was going to meet anytime soon. With a small smile, Yukio took her phone from her bag and texted someone immediately.

" _Thank you again, Tsukishima-san"_ The bluette hit sent before going inside their house. Apparently, the blond wasn't so cold after all.

* * *

 ** **Bonus (?) ~****

Tooru Oikawa felt a sense of pride at the moment - that was such a good entrance, he even hugged Yukio for effect. But, if he was to be honest, the volleyball player was indeed pissed; how dare these guys act so disgustingly - especially towards one of his favorite female?

Once he released the bluette from his arms, Oikawa planned to reprimand them - he would beat them up but he didn't feel like hurting his precious hands that he needed for sports. Not even Yukio can top his sport.

However, when he was about to start talking, Oikawa noticed that the two males he was going to lecture wasn't focusing on him anymore but behind him instead.

He was about to call on them but his curiosity trumped pride as he turned around. Now he knew why they were gaping - the bluette, which he was sure he left there, was missing.

Oikawa faced back front to inquire the two guys about the female's whereabouts as they obviously saw what happened, but alas, both of them were running away from him.

Quickly, he looked back at where Yukio was supposed to be, but this time he eyed the crowd - silently praying he'd see her. But no, the only thing he saw was a swarm of people and if he was to be asked if there was something slightly out of place, it was the back of a tall blond running - no bluette in sight, though.

He pulled his phone out with the intent to call the female. Unfortunately, the setter actually changed phones recently and the contacts that he has were mostly his teammates and people from Aoba.

Panicking, he pressed call to the number of the person he trusted the most.

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa cried as soon he heard him pick up. "You're still with Ryu, right?!"

"Murakami? Yeah. Why? Wanna talk to him?" He felt his face pale as he listened to the other line. "Hey, Murakami! Oikawa wants to talk to you!"

"No, no! Iwa, you need to stall Ryu! Yukio suddenly disappeared and I need to find her first!" Oikawa didn't want to deal with the older Murakami's wrath, especially since his protectiveness was at an all time high because of something Ryu refused to share - he just knew it involved Yukio.

"Yukio's what…?" The setter froze.

That wasn't Iwaizumi's voice.

* * *

 **Heya~ Last minute notes. I just want to confirm that Yukio did forget what sports Oikawa plays. She just knows he's good at what he does. ( I needed to say this bcoz idk if I delivered it well? whatevs.)**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading guys! Drop by the review/comment section and say hi, maybe?**

 **See you till next update~ (Which is not sure yet but I will... One day. jk. Soon, probably.)**


	12. AN

HI!

Okay so I know, it's been a year. Sorry guys. I really meant to write one but real life began to demand more around the time I was writing this story until I was forced to go to an unannounced hiatus; but I digress - the real reason I'm writing now is to ask for opinions, suggestions, and what not.

I stumbled upon a rough draft of what was supposed to be the next chapter of the story and whilst reading, I suddenly realized how I actually miss writing as well as writing the two of them. So I wanted to ask people who's still active and following this/still in if I should:

1\. Continue writing this story as is if nothing happened I so totally did not disappear

2\. _Attempt_ to re-write the whole series depending on how motivated i get.

3\. Simply let bygones be bygones and not bother with the story at all. (Not a great option but you got to admit it's out there. You know it and I know it.) Maybe even write a new story (Not necessarily about the two or Haikyuu in general) or stick to one shots and start uploading them here for fun.

I would really, truly, deeply appreciate answers if someone out there reads this. That's all. Thanks!

P.S. I would like to note that not only because one of the options get the higher votes (if any at all does) means that I will go down that path; ultimately, it will still be up to me. HOWEVER, knowing myself, having different responses and insights may sway me to go one way or the other so. Cast your votes, please?


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